Trust is key

Marissa Rushton, Opinion Writer

I believe that trust is the most important aspect of all friendships and relationships. Trusting someone is the most important building block on the way to a good friendship because it is absolutely necessary. The website “Join One Love” tells us, “Being able to have trust and confidence in your friend is one of the most important requirements of a strong relationship because true friendship means you are able to count on one another. Part of caring for a friend is honoring what they tell you, no matter the significance, with confidentiality and respect”. If you can’t trust your friends, they aren’t your friends, they are either toxic or maybe you would consider them as more of an acquaintance. With the inability to trust them, there is nothing to build your relationship upon. You are supposed to be able to rely on your friends and to be there for each other. Without trust, there’s nothing. You can’t look at them and think about all the good memories and fun times you’ve had with them. If your friend breaks your trust, all you can see is what they did and it’s never the same. When you can’t trust someone, you don’t usually think very highly of them. For example, when a friend of mine lied to me about something really important I was very hurt and I don’t see them as the amazing person I used to. I would still call them a friend but I am definitely not as close to them anymore and in, my perspective, their morals have sunk. We tend to think untrustworthy people can be mysterious and unpredictable. We can’t tell them anything. Would you be friends with someone you can’t talk to about important things going on in your life? I know that I wouldn’t because it would cause me stress and fear of saying something I shouldn’t have or a secret I wanted to keep private. With a good friend, you know you can believe them when they say “I won’t tell anyone don’t worry” or “Everything is going to be okay”. This is because you trust their judgment, as you should with a close friend. Some people might have the argument that similar types of humor or your favorite things are the most important part of friendship. Although it is very important to laugh with your friends and have fun with them doing both of your favorite things, trust is still more important because it is an important element of friendship and helps guide you and your friends to know and love each other. Some people may say that trust isn’t the most important thing within a friendship because the most important thing is having the same opinions so you don’t constantly argue with each other. While others might believe this, I believe that having different opinions is good for each other so you can see multiple sides of an argument or situation. You just have to trust that you can respect each other’s differences. Without trust, you are strangers continuously misleading each other with lies and doubt. I have personally experienced great friends who I would trust until the end of the world but I also have had some friends who I do manot trust and it ruined our entire bond together. Friend groups have completely fallen apart and tears have been shed due to the lack of trust in each other. An extraordinary and trustworthy friend is worth more than the world so, if you find one, hold on to them and treat them the way you would want to be treated.