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authorities if we feel something is not being done right. However, the truth of the matter is that we must often put our trust in people who have not proven themselves to us personally - and sometimes they will prove unworthy of that trust. Believe me, I speak from devastating personal experience in this regard.

However, in many situations in life we do have a much bigger say in who we trust with our own lives, the lives of those who are dependent on us, and the things in our lives that matter most to us. The general principle should be that people ought to be expected to earn our trust to a large degree before we allow them too much influence and freedom in our lives.

Sadly, there are many individuals who are far too ready to trust anybody on face value. We see and hear about it all the time. Of course children are by nature the most vulnerable. They trust people just because they seem nice - and tragically, those they put such simple trust in sometimes turn out to be evil predators.

In these times such predators often take advantage of the fact that they can gain a child's trust so easily over the internet and lure them into their evil trap. It's even easier than ever for these monsters to disguise themselves as perfectly trustworthy, kind and genuinely friendly examples of humanity with nothing but the purest motives.

Because children are so vulnerable and cannot be expected to sense danger as keenly as an adult might, it's up to their parents and others caring for them to do their best to protect them from assaults on their trust. Also, they need to be taught the importance of being cautious and not trusting themselves to anybody and everybody.

Of course, this is a tricky lesson to teach because we do not want to make them paranoid or fearful of everyone either. Striking the right balance is a skill that can only be learned with time, experience and maturity. Unfortunately there will always be a certain percentage of people who never really learn to take appropriate care in whom they trust with their lives, their feelings and all that is important to them.

One ghastly example that was in the Australian media in the past year or two was a case of a woman who had travelled interstate on work-related business. Going out to a nearby bar in the evening, she met a man and took him back for a sexual liaison in her motel. When she taunted his performance he retaliated by killing her.

I found it hard to comprehend that a woman working at a reasonably high level for

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