Have you ever met someone who doesn’t trust others, or a sub-set of “others”?
It’s such a sad thing to behold.
Whether that subset is “men”. or “women” or “rabbis” or “doctors” or “salesmen” or “politicians”, every time trust is broken, such an ugly drama is created when the mistruster interacts with the mistrusted.
It’s ugly because it’s not a natural state of being. It’s like a grimace one makes to show displeasure by scowling with one side of the one upper lip curled up unevenly, baring a canine tooth.
In this world where falsehood is granted awards, I can hardly recommend just trusting everyone without careful discernment.
We are all happier when we can just talk with people without doubting the sincerity of all parties involved. So much emotional energy is conserved that way.
That’s why I view skeptics and cynics with pity.
(That’s one of the beauties of halachos and transactions that call for a high degree of verification regardless of who is involved. That way, nobody is being insulted.)
This is more a “food-for-thought” post. Not so much “Elul” here.
This Shiur Is About You 