Home Truth

My boys tell me that gullible is the only English word not to appear in the dictionary. I don’t know why. It gets used in our house to describe me all the time.

I consider gullibility an endearing feature. It shows a trust in people, a faith in humankind, a lack of the destroying cynicism that pervades our age.

Take last week, for example. I was enjoying a day out with the love of my life. It was sunny. We were alone. Before us were two beautifully presented sandwiches, a fruit smoothie and a cup of steaming fair trade coffee. Or so I thought.

Eavesdrop for a moment:-

Me: Isn’t it amazing how fair trade coffee is so much more widely available now?

Him: This isn’t fair trade.

Me: It is. Look, the fair trade logo is even up there on the board.

Him: That’s just next to the tea.

Me: But look at this (picking up the info leaflet off the table). This tells you all about it.

Him: But surely you don’t believe everything you read.

Me (getting a bit defensive): No. Obviously not. But I do when the company’s strapline is ETHICAL HONEST FAIR.

Him (warming up for a rant): That’s like thinking that everything that says it’s organic really is. Unless it’s certified by the Soil Association, there are no guarantees. Same with fair trade. Unless it has the Fairtrade certification, who knows?

Me (getting a bit defeated): So your coffee is possibly ETHICAL in some way or another; obviously not completely HONEST and in many ways, including ruining our moment, definitely not FAIR. Enjoy!

Silence. The sandwiches become the object of our full attention.

Gullible’s world is shaken yet again.

Filed under: fair trade on June 19th, 2007