Growing Pains; on Faith & Faithlessness

I suppose we are all born with an instinct to trust; perhaps it is because we have no other choice. Growing up, then, is largely about losing that trust. Early on, children learn of jealousy and deception, and the trust that had seemed so whole, so inviolable, begins to break. We move though childhood and those agonizing adolescent years, and emerge stripped of trust, faith, hope, and, to our minds, prepared to take on the challenge of ‘real life.’

But no, the growing has only just begun. In the real world, we soon discover, trust is never entirely dispensable; indeed, so much is built on faith, on a handshake, on a promise. All that we labored so diligently to lose, we must now regain, relearning, step by painful step, the art of trusting. And this is when the real growing pains begin, as we attempt to strike a balance between faith and a healthy, helpful kind of skepticism.

So much for my ranting.