Trustworthiness

Quality of the month for May

Dictionary definitions tell us that trustworthiness is "the state or quality that makes one worthy of confidence or trust." The word applies to "a person, or sometimes a thing, whose truthfulness, integrity and discretion can be relied on."

One PCC member explained trustworthiness this way: It is a "quality that describes reliability in someone, that lets you have faith that what you expect that person to do, he or she will do." Another put the focus on a married couple's relationship: "As a spouse, trustworthiness means that my husband and I can be apart for an extended time, and throughout that time, I have complete peace that he is being faithful to me, as I will be to him."

A high school student described what being trustworthy requires of him:

"When someone is depending on you, that person will never be let down; he knows that what he is asking will get done to the best of my ability." Another student said that trustworthiness is "gaining others trust by your deeds."

Over the years many people have spoken helpfully about this quality:

	George Macdonald:		"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved."
	Henry L. Stimson:		"The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust."
	Booker T. Washington:		"Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him and to let him know that you trust him."
	Ralph Waldo Emerson:		"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all have not seen."
	Stephen R. Covey:		"Trustworthiness is more than integrity; it also connotes competence. In other words, you may be an honest doctor, but before I trust you, I want to know that you're competent as well. We sometimes focus too much on integrity and not enough on personal competence and professional performance. Honest people who are incompetent in their area of professional expertise are not trustworthy."

What does it mean for you to be a trustworthy person? Your family to be a trustworthy family? Your institution a trustworthy institution? Your community a trustworthy community?