I'm Suspicious About Suspicion

Mistrust is part of what makes us human. In comparison to the rest of the animal kingdom, we are an incredibly selfish species, which explains a lot about us. It explains how there is such a disparity between the upper and lower classes, not to mention the disparity between the "developed" and "undeveloped" countries. Our selfish nature is the basis for why there is so much mistrust in the world.

But this is not an entirely bad thing. "Mistrust" is just a harsher form of the word "caution."

One could say that mistrust is perhaps even beneficial in many different spheres. Just look at areas today where a lack of trust is most prevalent:

• Family Relationships between children and parents
• Food Preparation
• National security, especially at airports and events
• The N.S.A.

All of these areas are absolutely dominated by a lack of trust. But imagine if we injected more trust into any of these areas. We would have another generation gap similar to that of the 1950's, food that is sickening more people every day, and a much higher prevalence of terrorism, both domestic and international. 

So who is the ultimate benefactor of a lack of mistrust? Us. The measures we adopt that are considered untrustworthy are for our own protection, present and future. Mistrust is nothing more than an evolutionary trait we adapted over millennia for our own self-preservation. Yes, we can point our fingers at who is affected by today's lack of trust. But should that caution ever be removed, we would quickly run out of fingers to point.