No, Guest heric, I don't remember you saying that I might be naive. Actually, I wasn't bothered that someone would think I was. This has been a good discussion, and I've respected everything that everyone has said. Life is a balancing act, and we all seek to find a way to live positively, while not being gullible (I can spell gullible) or placing ourselves at unnecessary risk.

Funny thing about taking chances, though. Nobody wants to get hurt, including me. But some of the life-changing experiences I've gone through hurt like Hell (well, probably not nearly that much..) We are who we have become, not just because everyone we've trusted or befriended turned out to be trustworthy, or a friend. We are shaped as much by failure as success. I also wouldn't want to minimize the pain of trusting someone and being betrayed.. especially in a close personal relationship.

Wrote a song about it many years ago:

What do you do when the good times are gone?
Sit by the window and wait for the dawn
And you can't remember how things went so wrong, anymore

What does it matter how hard you tried
Or how many times you kept it inside
There's no more to say, and nothing to hide, anymore

Let the conversation roll on, wherever this thread takes it. It's good to talk about stuff like this.

Jerry