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Dear Sir:

Are there people in your lives who you trust, I mean really trust, trust with your innermost secrets, trust with your life? I am sure there are, otherwise life would be a misery to live, and perhaps it is one the basic requirements of humanity.

We each have our own internal process about trust, much of which is based on past negative experiences. In other words, we get burned, disappointed or hurt in life and then decide, "I'm not doing that again," and we put up barriers around ourselves to keep us "safe."

I never really ever trusted Ralph Gonsalves completely, knowing his Marxist-Leninist background and his involvement in the riots that followed the Rodney affair in Jamaica, where people died and massive destruction took place.

"Trust is something that is difficult to establish. It is very fragile that needs to be taken care of. Once trust breaks or shatters into pieces, it is very difficult to rebuild it." K. Cunningham.

I have tried so hard over the years to trust Ralph Gonsalves but I just can’t, because of things that he has said and done, before and since coming to power in 2001.

When he told us he sometimes tells lies, that destroyed most of the little trust I had in him.

When he told us the story that told us “show me a liar and I will show you a thief” that made me think further about what a liar is. Having already told us he tells lies, is this an admission that he is a thief?

"Trust is a business communication skill which, in combination with behaviour, either works to build trust or destroy it.” L. Finkle

What totally destroyed my trust in him and the whole of the Unity Labour Party was when he told us that he knew before he signed an agreement with the teachers union in 2004 that it was unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable. Yet withheld that information from the teachers and told them it was the best agreement they had ever negotiated.

He further told us that all who signed the agreement knew it was unconstitutional and unenforceable. How would he know what was in the minds of each of the signatories, unless that is, they all discussed it before signing. Would that not make it a conspiracy?

"Trust is the easiest thing in the world to lose, and the hardest thing in the world to get back." R. Williams

When he told us, “I only work Obeah for the Lord,” to say such a thing was an act against the trust of all Christians, which made me think that he probably doesn’t trust himself.

“A man who doesn't trust himself can never really trust anyone else.” Cardinal De Retz

Can we trust, I mean really trust Gonsalves? Trust him with our innermost secrets? Trust him with our life? Trust him to tell us the truth? Trust him to be honest and truthful in written contracts? Trust him with our politics? Trust him with our country? Trust him with Christianity?

Peter Binose

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