Benefit of the doubt

Have you ever had a bad meat pie; all those ones that the crust is more than half of the meat pie? Biting through all that crust just for a pinch of meat is never worth it, is it?

So what does bad meat pie have to do with anything? I'll tell you. As we begin to eat the pie, we often shake our heads as we feel the amount of crust, and desperately want to believe that the meat inside will be good; we’ve already taken four bites without meat. We know the meat is going to be small, we know we’re going to be disappointed... but we go on hoping anyway.

This isn’t about meat pie.

It’s a beautiful thing to want to always see the best in people, but this beautiful trait can also, very often, lead to deep wounds, because, in reality, people can be very mean.

There are always signs and warnings with people, I think. The question is, do we want to see those signs and warnings? Usually not.

So what happens now? Do we stop giving anyone the benefit of the doubt? Do we reject all notions of good people? Or maybe vow to never trust anyone again?

Wearing a blindfold and choosing not to see hasn’t really worked out for me. Instead of giving people the benefit of the doubt, we should probably clear up the doubt itself by having a conversation with them. How they respond usually gives us enough information to make an informed decision.

There are good people in the world, but there are also the not so good people too: it’s better to accept they exist and be careful not to let them negatively affect us. In other words, buy a good meat pie for yourself.

-Alexander from MANI