<p>My favorite bumper sticker is “My Family Values Critical Thinking”. (And yes–I’m the one that always rains on everyone’s parade by checking all the silliness out on snopes.com–love that site.)</p>
<p>“Congratulations on making it this far in life and keeping your faith in humanity.”</p>
<p>My thoughts exactly. Once bitter, always bitter. So get yourself a piece of paper and write down a few “guard-lines” … guidelines to keep your spirit intact by avoiding foolish behavior. There are many good thoughts in posts above:</p>
<ul>
<li>Trust but Verify: Don’t act on anything you hear without independent confirmation</li>
<li>If it sounds too good to be true …<br></li>
<li>Match value with caution: You can trust a stranger to save your seat at the theatre, but not to watch the computer/camera/etc. you set on that seat</li>
<li>Treat anything you put in writing as if it will be published online tomorrow</li>
<li>Oh, and learn which trades/disciplines are notorious for not living up to their promises. (So when the furniture van promises delivery “9 to noon” you won’t be miffed when it shows up at five. That’s just the way some services are.)</li>
</ul>
<p>"Subscribe to, and read, a good daily newspaper. "</p>
<p>-I do not believe them either. Media is extremely biased. I actually do not know any publication that you can trust at face value. Everything needs to be filtered down, including all TV and radio news and talk shows. You can trust yourself, your mother and your father. So, use your family values to filter everything else. Always obseve what is done, actions speak much more truthfully than words.</p>
<p>OP - because they expose you to a lot of different ways people are tricked, conned, or worse. The best tool for protecting yourself is awareness. And seeing it, even on TV, is more visceral than reading about it (for most people). Plus they give you a quasi-functional understanding of how the legal system works (though obviously, don’t run around thinking what happens on the screen works in real life).</p>
<p>I always try to see if people’s actions are the same as their words. Actions speak much louder than words!</p>
<p>Also, put your own needs first. If you take good care of yourself, you will be able to help others.</p>
<p>I hesitate to tell anyone to be less cynical or less trusting. I think trusting that other people are fundamentally quite decent can mean that you allow yourself to take more risks. I also believe that risk-taking is an important skill to learn.</p>
<p>My daughter chose to bicycle across the country two years ago; she did a large portion of the trip (Denver to Virginia) by herself (from Portland to Denver she traveled with a friend, now her husband). Strangers helped her a lot along the way, providing places to sleep (from campsites to beds), meals, conversations, snacks, tires, and more. If she hadn’t chosen to trust, she couldn’t have made the trip, and it was life-changing for her.</p>
<p>All that said: if a situation makes you wish you were more street-smart or more cynical, that’s a sign that something is wrong. Pay attention to that signal!</p>
<p>Trusting i what gets us into huge trouble at all levels, personal, national, international. This trusting is making others suffer also, not only yourself.</p>
<p>^ Sad, sad, jaded, consistently negative perspective on life.</p>
<p>A street smart that I learned from a book (ironic, I know) is that when you’re looking for help in an unfamiliar area, it’s usually best to actively pick a person rather than trust someone that comes up to you. The reasoning behind it is that on average, most people are trustworthy, so the person you pick in most cases would genuinely want to help you. The people who choose you or walk up to you to offer help most likely stands something to gain from approaching.</p>
<p>sseamom says it best in that everyone has different circumstances. Empathizing with people and understanding what values they hold tend to be what many street smart people have great experience in.</p>
<p>Therese, hang onto that optimism, and don’t ever let anyone take it away from you.</p>