<div class="text-justify">

<center>![Boat image (6).png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/galenkp/243271vWne2aw2JW24ThGPDiAn9rmAL7XgLxpBCnUBXFPR64uMwQp3wjmmi2rfEDEatnb.jpg)</center>

### <center>It's better to be betrayed than to trust no one</center>
***

Each Thursday I select a Viking quote, sometimes randomly but ofttimes based upon relevance or meaning to my life at that point in time. Despite these phrases being over a thousand years old I believe most can still offer value in modern society and I find it interesting to ponder, weigh and measure them. <sub>***<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/viking-drakar-boat-norway-4601896/">original im src</a>***</sub>
***

# This week's Viking quote

>*It's better to be betrayed than to trust no one* - Fljótsdæla saga

While you may get let down, sometimes you need to believe in people. Excessive skepticism can cause more problems than broken trust.

I remember being a rather trusting little fellow as a child: Parents, brothers, school teachers, coaches, friends and family members...All received a degree of trust as I had no reason not to. This began to change once I arrived at school as a five year old and I came to discover that children can be very cruel to others who may be a little different be it colour, size, wearing glasses, name, physical ability, and a myriad of different reasons. 

It was then that I found my trusting nature questioned and over the years, as life happened, I became less and less inclined to trust people. The loss of innocence? Yes, I'd say that's partly true and it's certainly something most children face as they experience life.

Over the years I've experienced many situations in which I've placed trust in a person, or group of people, only to discover my trust was compromised, that I'd been betrayed in some way or other. 

None of those moments felt very good because, quite obviously, the feeling of betrayal isn't a nice feeling at all. Many of those times were minor occurrences but a few have been major obstacles in my journey - A couple almost ended me. 

Fortunately I'm not the easiest person to put down, if it happens I tend to get back up reasonably quickly and simply keep operating, and I've managed to work through those moments gaining valuable knowledge and understanding along the way; wisdom I suppose one may call it. It's also gained me a set of acquired habits put in place to protect myself and mitigate the risk of further betrayal.

Over life, and through the situations it brings, I've come to apply a default-setting when it comes to other people, a method in which helps to lessen the risk of betrayal; I say *lessen not remove* as I don't think eliminating it completely is possible. I don't trust people easily and my default-position is that a person starts with a clean slate, meaning I don't trust them until they deserve it or show they are worthy of my trust. 

It's helped me filter those I bring into my circle and, hold some at arm's-length or further, or keep a watchful eye on them. I never get it one hundred percent right and have allowed people who ultimately proved themselves to be unworthy into my circle, however I've also held people away that have subsequently proven themselves very worthy. None of us are perfect after all, so mistakes will happen. Generally however, it's been a good process and has paid dividends through having the right people around me and holding others away. The feeling of betrayal occurs less and that helps make for a happier life.

This quote today is an interesting one for me as at first glance it seems to totally contradict my own ethos. 

I look at it and wonder why a person would rather be betrayed however in thinking about it a little more it begins to come together. Sure, it might mean different things to others but one way I look at it is from an intimate-relationship perspective. Would I prefer to engage in a beautiful relationship with a special person, *and contend with the possibility of betrayal*, or would I rather not have that relationship at all and miss out on something very special while removing the threat of betrayal?

I think the former as betrayal may not occur at all and a beautiful and loving relationship is worth the potential risk of it occurring. And so the quote challenges my *slow-to-trust* ethos.

People around the world enter into intimate-relationships (all sorts of relationships) all the time and in each the opportunity exists that one may betray the other, or both may do so in fact. It's a risk but people make the determination to run that gauntlet, to take the risk and hope it doesn't happen or actively work towards keeping the relationship solid in the first place. 

The same could be said for a business relationship and I've had first-hand experience in that regard. I performed a risk-analysis, moved forward, kept a watching brief and was so utterly betrayed by a business partner that it broke me down to a point from which I didn't think I'd recover from. I did though and learned another valuable life-lesson. Would I do it again? Maybe. It's that *reward over risk determination* we all need to make at certain points of life but to allow that betrayal to affect every relationship moving forward isn't right and so I didn't let that happen.

I believe it would be an incredibly lonely life if one didn't trust others. We trust people to make our food, to make and service our cars, provide medical assistance, safety and security, to fly planes, drive buses and a million other things that could ultimately affect us negatively. Things goes wrong sometimes, mistakes happen, but we continue on in life with a little extra knowledge based on the lessons learned whilst placing our trust in others. 

Learning the lessons through adversity, betrayal, is one of the benefits of placing a little trust in others. Of course, my default-setting is always in place, I've been betrayed, used and abused far too many times for me to remove that barrier completely. Some make it through by demonstrating their quality, doing the things that prove them are worthy of my trust, and others simply do not. It's just how I am. 

So there it is, an odd little quote this week, but one that for the Vikings must have meant a great deal. Their loyalties changed all the time; enemies became friends, then enemies and maybe even friends once again. That's how they did it and I guess this quote shows quite clearly that they weren't simply the axe-wielding murderers they are often portrayed as - They were a deep-thinking and intelligent bunch and I believe there's much we can learn from them. 

But what do you think on the subject? Are you quick to trust or do you have a shield as do I? What's your strategy to filter or vet people coming into your life be it friends, business people or those with whom you'd like to build intimate-relationships? Conversely how do you deal with betrayal and how does it ultimately affect your future actions? Feel free to comment below as I'd love to get your perspective.

***


Skol.

</div>

***
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - *Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind*

<sub>Discord: galenkp#9209</sub>