Because for a lot of men, trust has been expensive.
I'm not talking about romantic betrayal specifically, though that's part of it. I'm talking about the cumulative experience of being let down — by parents who weren't safe, by friends who drifted, by institutions that didn't deliver, by a culture that told you to be vulnerable and then punished you for it.
After enough of that, trust stops feeling like a bridge and starts feeling like a trap. So you stop building bridges. You learn to handle things yourself. You keep your circle small. You don't let people all the way in.
I understand this. I lived it. But I also have to tell you what it cost me. Trusting no one means you're safe from betrayal, but it also means you're alone. And a man who's alone is a man who's slowly starving — whether he knows it or not.
Trust isn't naivety. It's a decision to be open with your eyes open. To give someone the chance to be worthy of your trust, while knowing they might not be. That's risk. But everything good in my life came through that door. My marriage. My work. My closest friendships. All of them required me to trust before I had proof.
You don't have to trust everyone. But you do have to trust someone. A life without it isn't safe. It's just small.
---
