Gullible

Last night we were talking about human trafficking and I was expressing horror to Das over the personal story of someone I'd read an article about. He was not nearly as sympathetic as I was since he thought the story was not quite feasible. A conversation then ensued about my gullibility. He said that he thinks I am gullible not because I'm stupid but because I want to think the best of people and do so until or unless they give me a very good reason to do otherwise. He on the other hand doesn't require quite as much convincing that someone is full of shit.  It's nice to me that while he recognizes that trait in me and even sees where it can (and has) gotten me into some uncomfortable situations it's not something he would change about me. He simply sees it as something he needs to be alert to protecting me from other people who would take advantage of that aspect of my nature.

I'm sure some would say that the adult and responsible thing would be for me to develop a keener bullshit detector or at the least a veneer of sophistication in which wide eyed acceptance is passe. That isn't me nor is that what he wants from me. One of the things that has been making a recurring appearance is vulnerability. I can't cultivate cynicism and simultaneously maintain a state of being vulnerable. The trade off is I am more likely to be taken in and in some cases hurt, Das sees his job as minimizing the potential negatives so that I can concentrate on relaxing into being that soft mushy giddy accepting open person he adores.