A few days ago, I listened to an interview. The person interviewed was deeply frustrated by her situation. She had been demonstrating with others who like her find it hard to make the months ends. Things had not been working out as she had expected. She used the interview to express her anger as well as what she thought needed to happen.

In her opinion government had to sit down at the negotiation table and start discussing with her group. She explained that this was very necessary and would lead to a solution.

Still, she also noted a prerequisite. To her, government official had to be honest when coming to the negotiation.

While we can hope for honesty, only requesting it is a problem.

It puts the person who asked to be honest under extra pressure. Any difficulty during negotiation can end up with being called out as dishonest. There are no easy means, if it exists at all, to measure someone else’s honesty.

The person requesting honesty also ends up in a dilemma as the request for honesty is only addressed at the other person. Requesting it from others can lead to the feeling that they are the only ones responsible. This is rarely the case. In fact, when more than one person is involved, then trust is necessary.

Without trust, honesty has no chance to succeed.

Trust requires us to engage into it.