Trust

She worked at a bank. She was well-liked there. She was kind and helpful and honest. One day, her drawer was a hundred dollars short. It was counted and recounted. All the drawers were counted together to make sure there was not some error. The bank was one hundred dollars short that day. Some looked at her with suspicion, knowing how easy it would be to slip a single hundred dollar bill into a pocket or a sleeve or under papers somehow. Others were one hundred percent certain she would not take money from the bank or anyone ever. There must have been talk among management of what to do, maybe even talk of letting her go. But it was dropped and no more was said. I don't know what magic the bank did to make it go away. And I am sure some still had suspicions. Maybe management even did. Maybe her best friends even did. Maybe her husband even did. Maybe she even did. Maybe she thought she took it and repressed it. Did she search her own purse and pockets that night to make sure? She knew that there were mistakes making change and mistakes in data entry but she had seen the tallies and the counts and she knew this time that it was really and truly actually missing. From her drawer. How did she explain it to herself?

And years, many years later, when the bank was remodeled and the counter tops that held the drawers were disassembled, torn apart to make way for a new configuration, one worker was astonished to find there clinging, wedged into a wood joint under the countertop over a drawer opening, a nifty crisp clean one hundred dollar bill. The mystery was simply and finally solved after all those many years, and the trust so many had placed in her truly justified.

We should take care that we do not let unjustified, or even justified, suspicions get in the way of our dealings and relationships with good people. It is always best to trust and forgive and allow second chances than it is to let relationships be destroyed over mysteries and suspicions. Some things never get explained, and this counter top could have been dropped into the dumpster without the money ever being found and some would still wonder. Trust is a good thing. Keep it well into play as best you can!