The Key

September 20, 2011 by Gail
Filed under VPL

Some years are like a rusty padlock, the kind you know you should have thrown away long ago because the lever tumbler locking mechanism is kaput and rust never sleeps. The only thing a rusty padlock is good for after that, is scrap metal.

VPL

VPL is short for Very Penneylane. They’re my take on everyday lessons from life. Lessons learnt and others where I missed the boat completely. Life’s long or short, depending on which end of the paddle you draw. Either way, being stuck up a creek without one makes for some interesting observations.

About that Lesson

In practice, perhaps years like this should just be put away quietly. Without the fanfare, without all the hullabaloo. It would certainly be easy to do that and really and truly, who could blame me or you if it’s been a tough year and we feel that way.

Yet, we would be remiss in not reflecting on what we might have learnt from it all. Out of sight might be out of sight but it isn’t necessarily out of mind.

Padlocks are used to protect us against theft, vandalism, sabotage, unauthorised use, and harm. The lesson I’ve learnt from this year is that trust is a human padlock fashioned to protect us from forced and unapproved entry to this human house we call our life.

No-one tells us there’s a degree of risk associated with that. There is. The risk for us is in assuming that other people will place the same or a similar importance on the value of the trust we offer or extend to them. If they don’t, like the metal man of Oz, we might be forgiven for believing they have no heart and like I said earlier, rust never sleeps.

Forced entry on the other hand is obvious. In the kits are hammers, bolt cutters, chisels, and drills; while surreptitious attacks might be unauthorised key duplication or other bypass techniques that don’t show obvious signs of compromise like omission or untruths that quantify the risks between people.

I’ve learnt some tough lessons this year, about people you think you know but discover you don’t. About how trust can be misplaced and that rebuilding from out of the rubble means staying alert to cave-ins, rock fall or developing a hard heart.

The lesson and the key are the same. Learn to trust, learn to trust again. Get better at being able to discern who is worth your trust and who is not. It takes practice but you will get better at it. Practice until you do. Oh, and mind your soft heart.