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Trust. I am wondering what that word means to you…no matter where you are in the world. To me it is often a sort of faith…faith that the person with whom you are interacting, will be true to their word. Recently, I received an email from a dear friend who was alarmed about a particular type of email scam that is being perpetrated. She emailed me to warn me and was quite taken aback that this sort of thing had become a regular part of internet dealings. I suppose since I have received all sorts of scams via email since I went into business (and because I have worked in the Criminal Justice system) I was not surprised in the least. However, I am always saddened when my trust in someone has been misplaced. Take for instance a solicitation I received from one Cynthia P. in Malayasia concerning my CDs. We struck up quite the email correspondence surrounding their offer. I was skeptical since it would have been such a major boon to my company, and suggested I send samples…not complete issues of my CDs. Her response was they needed me to send complete recordings because “…it shows a formidable association between you as the publisher and us as the distributers. Incomplete products for reason of protection against infringement will only show that we do not have that relationship.” TRUST. Bottom line…though inherently skeptical that this was legitimate, I fell back on the old adage “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” And yes, my trust was misplaced, and I was ‘scammed.’ And it cost me a great deal of money too. Perhaps you are thinking me somewhat naiive believing that sending some of my CDs to the other side of the world could result in anything but a scam…and perhaps you would be right. BUT…I did learn from that experience. And now you say…so much for trusting, right? Not so for me. To quote John Marks Templeton “Seek out the good, and your mind will fill with happiness.” or Erasmus “The highest form of bliss is living with a certain degree of folly.” So YES…I continue to be willing to TRUST; and I truly believe that in the end, my trust will not be unfounded. Trusting is a form of faith and both are empowerment…and that is my goal…to empower others!