Perfect strangers really are perfect.

One of the greatest things that I have learned while traveling this beautiful world is that you have to trust people.  I have trusted complete strangers with my life in many strange situations; I've never been let down.  I've found that people are inherently good.  

I let a man lead me into a sandcastle oasis in the middle of the Sahara desert with no grasp of the French language for survival.  We had the best dinner and accommodations that night at a fair price.  

I let a nice Dutch woman drive me into the middle-of-nowhere Burgundy, only to be dropped off at a goat cheese farm. The following day was the best day of my life.

People are good.  But why is it that perfect strangers can be so helpful, caring ,and respectful, but people you care about disappoint.  Trust means enabling other people to take advantage of your vulnerabilities- but expecting that they will not do this.  And the only people to have crossed this line have been two people that I've really cared about.

It's a disappointment.

It hurts me to think that I can trust complete strangers more than people I know.