guilty until proven innocent?

Had wanted to write about this some time ago, but forgot.. until I read cat’s recent entry. Indeed, some pple are very distrusting, and everyone to them is “guilty until proven innocent”. On the other hand, I prefer to give everything/everyone the benefit of the doubt, being “innocent until proven guilty”. I always thought this attitude of mine to be quite a blessing, for naivety brings a lot of happiness. Yet, for once in my life, it almost led me to a quarrel with a friend. I simply could not understand why she was so cautious about this other person, deeming him to be evil and out to trick her. It was a simple request that seemed all so harmless to me. I don’t know if it was her being oversensitive or me being dumb and gullible, but my not being able to understand her stand led our discussion to become quite heated up. Until today, I still cannot comprehend why people must be so cautious. Why must everyone in their eyes be sly and cunning, until proven angelic? And even when that happens, people might say there must be a hidden motive behind his angelic behavior. There’s no end to it. Sometimes I wish we were in a more unassuming and carefree society..