Zeniff trusted people. He saw the good in others and cared about their well-being. (See Mosiah 9:1.) This was a strength, but it was also a vulnerability. By his own admission, he was “deceived” by the “cunning, and lying craftiness, and…fair promises” (Mosiah 10:18) of the king of the Lamanites, and as a result, he placed himself and his people in jeopardy.
He tells us that he was “over-zealous” (Mosiah 9:3) to return to the land of his ancestors, meaning that he was so passionate about the goal that he failed to recognize the risks. He was blinded by optimism, and he subsequently realized that he should have been more cautious.
It’s not clear how thoroughly he learned this lesson, though. His last official act was to “confer the kingdom upon one of [his] sons” (Mosiah 10:22). That son was Noah, who would become the most notorious tyrant in Nephite history.
As a result of Noah’s poor leadership, Zeniff’s grandson Limhi reigned in captivity. Unsurprisingly, Limhi was far more skeptical and cautious than his grandfather. When his people were accused of kidnapping a group of young Lamanite women, he was inclined to treat his people harshly. One of his servants, Gideon, talked him off the ledge by offering a plausible hypothesis: his father’s priests, living in exile, had likely committed the crime. (See Mosiah 20:16-17.)
When a search party later arrived from Zarahemla, Limhi immediately had them arrested, bound, and imprisoned, because he assumed that they were his father’s priests. (See Mosiah 7:6-14, Mosiah 21:23-24.) Once the misunderstanding had been cleared up, he was overjoyed and delighted to collaborate with them on a plan to free his people, but he did leave them in prison for two days first.
These stories of Zeniff and Limhi illustrate the balance we all seek in our daily lives. We recognize the importance of trust, and we recognize its hazards. The Russian proverb, “Trust, but verify” (“doверяй, но проверяй,” pronounced doveryay, no proveryay), reminds us that trust should have limits. We should notice red flags and take appropriate action to mitigate risks. We should give people the benefit of the doubt within reason, but not ignore evidence of misconduct nor fail to secure valuable things. There is a middle ground, in other words, between trusting too much and trusting too little.
A few years ago, a colleague of mine suddenly pulled out of a project we had been working on together for weeks, wrecking one of my annual goals in the process. When I discussed the situation with my manager, he responded with the following advice: “Don’t stop trusting people because of this experience.” He recognized a fundamental truth: All relationships require trust, and trust always carries risk. When you choose to rely on other people, they will disappoint you sometimes, but when you fail to rely on others, you impoverish yourself and them.
Today, I will trust wisely. I will be observant and set appropriate boundaries, but I will remember that trust is the lifeblood of relationships and that a life of cynicism and disengagement is no life at all.