Trust and Verify
Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 9:32 pm
“Trust and Verify� is a great motto that every leader can follow. The question is how we can verify. How sensible should I be to detect any possible risks? Is it this approach in conflict to the “Trust�?
The Wolf and the Shepherd from Aesop’s Fables.
A Wolf followed a flock of sheep for a long time but did not attempt to injure any of them. The Shepherd at first stood on his guard against him, as against an enemy, and kept a strict watch over his movements. But when the Wolf, day after day, kept in the company of the sheep and did not make the slightest effort to seize them, the Shepherd began to look upon him as a guardian of his flock rather than as a plotter of evil against it; and when occasion called him one day into the city, he left the sheep entirely in his charge. The Wolf, now that he had the opportunity, fell upon the sheep, and destroyed the greater part of the flock. When the Shepherd returned to find his flock destroyed, he exclaimed: "I have been rightly served; why did I trust my sheep to a Wolf?'
This story reached me profoundly. Although someone may look like a predator at first, we must not judge someone by the outside. However, the hardest part of life is sometimes balancing when to trust and when not to trust. The shepherd here was not at fault for trusting the wolf. Although he “loses� in this story, a world without trust will be even more horrible than the wolf that destroyed most of the flock. We must pray on seeking for the wisdom to continuously weigh the dangers of life without closing our hearts from trust.
The Wolf and the Shepherd from Aesop’s Fables.
A Wolf followed a flock of sheep for a long time but did not attempt to injure any of them. The Shepherd at first stood on his guard against him, as against an enemy, and kept a strict watch over his movements. But when the Wolf, day after day, kept in the company of the sheep and did not make the slightest effort to seize them, the Shepherd began to look upon him as a guardian of his flock rather than as a plotter of evil against it; and when occasion called him one day into the city, he left the sheep entirely in his charge. The Wolf, now that he had the opportunity, fell upon the sheep, and destroyed the greater part of the flock. When the Shepherd returned to find his flock destroyed, he exclaimed: "I have been rightly served; why did I trust my sheep to a Wolf?'
This story reached me profoundly. Although someone may look like a predator at first, we must not judge someone by the outside. However, the hardest part of life is sometimes balancing when to trust and when not to trust. The shepherd here was not at fault for trusting the wolf. Although he “loses� in this story, a world without trust will be even more horrible than the wolf that destroyed most of the flock. We must pray on seeking for the wisdom to continuously weigh the dangers of life without closing our hearts from trust.