I'm too much of an optimist. Really. It's a trust thing. I tend to trust everyone implicitly until they prove me wrong. Problem is, the fall from trust happens WAY too often.

You'd think I'd learn. But no, I go on trusting, in the naive belief that hard work, good deeds, and "living right" will be their own reward in the end. Yeah, sure.

Then I look over at one of our cats, curled up between my wife and I, content to sit there with the TV on Leno and listening to me clack away on the keyboard. He trusts he'll get food, a clean box, and his daily scratchy-scratch. If he doesn't, he makes sure we know about it. Pretty honest.

Yeah, I know, cats don't really trust. They learn that certain actions elicit certain responses. They are trained to act in a specific way to get what they want, and we in turn are trained to respond to their actions. But I like to believe they trust us.

So if they, the no-forehead, lay-around-in-the-sunny-spot-on-the-carpet beasts can trust, surely I can keep on trusting. So, cynics be damned, I'll keep trusting. Maybe I'll find a sunny spot.