It is all too frequently just not practical for me to wait around while someone earns my trust. Hence, that casual everyday term: blind trust. I am something of a Federal Reserve of trust, doling it out—sometimes reluctantly, often under pressure of circumstance—as if there is no end to it. Yet I admit my reliance on trust. The oft-repeated phrase of modern diplomacy “trust but verify” may sound wise at first blush, but it is actually an oxymoron. If you do the one, the other is negated.
