2. Because people are a mess, they are going to let you down. Even the people you look up to most—parents, teachers, pastors, presidents—will let you down. When this happens, it doesn’t void the things those people taught you.

If you catch the parent who taught you not to use foul language dropping the f-bomb, it doesn’t make him a hypocrite—it just makes him a fallible human being. If the pastor who taught you the faith turns out to be a liar in his personal life, it doesn’t negate the truth that he taught you about God. If the presidential candidate you believe in ends up doing what you never thought he would, it doesn’t take away from the ideas he represented. Principles stand independent of people, and the failure of those people to perfectly carry them out does not nullify them.

3. If you decide, based on a betrayal, to become cynical and untrusting, you will ultimately hurt yourself more than anyone else. Yes, trusting and believing in another means opening yourself up to another betrayal, another hurt, another let-down. But it also opens you up to future good. If you give up on everyone because one person has disappointed, you guarantee for yourself a lifetime of disappointment.

4. The people who really, really matter will always be there for you. Unfortunately, they, too, may let you down in ways big and small because they, too, are only human. But you will know your importance to them when they come to you and humbly lay their failure at your feet and ask you for your forgiveness. When they do that, forgive them. They’re struggling through this life, trying to make sense of it just like you are. Have compassion for them, and be kind.