Trusting people

I genuinely like to see the good in people. I hate negativity and I genuinely like people. Unless and until you prove me wrong (and even then there's a good bet I'll excuse it) I believe and trust in you. Timmy has been telling me I am messed up in the head for being this way. He states that he trusts no one and this is the way I should be. Personally, I think this is a sad, lonely way to be, but I am beginning to see some truth to his words.
I trusted that Sherry was really the Christian person she portrayed herself as. A poor soul who has been beaten down by life but refuses to give in to it. She seemed so generous, kind, and helpful--if a bit needy and gossipy at times, but overall I thought this was just the result of her tragic upbringing. She reminded me sort of like a puppy dog that is so desperate for love and affection that it gets kind of annoying (in a sweet way) always following you around and offering its love to you. Signs pointed to this not being true and in the past year I have begun to seriously question her motives and her actions. I stopped thinking that her words and behaviors were accidental or innocent, and started to see a malevolent pattern in them. It was starting to look like calculated manipulation on her part. It's like someone took a scarred, ugly, rotting sculpture and glossed it over with pretty paint and ribbons. On the outside it seems beautiful, but if you look too closely you see the chips in the paint--underneath it is still rotten, no amount of disguising it can make it new and healthy. This is Sherry. But, I still considered her really harmless. So, she is manipulative and needy, anyone can be dealt with. I just started keeping her at arm's length and only telling her scant details about things. Little did I know there was a demon under that exterior.
She is literally the most vindictive, manipulative individual I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. I think she may be the antichrist. (I'm only half kidding here). Her fake concern and generosity disguises the fact that any details anyone discloses to her or any favor she does for them will be used as ammunition to bring them down. I have seen this happen in countless ways with others, and yet I still thought this woman was harmless?! She as good as said she would see the rest of the company fall before she would go. I thought this was a statement made by a distraught and irrational woman; little did I know she was deadly serious.
Well, you live and learn right. I still want to believe in the basic goodness and honesty of human beings--I have to. The world is too crowded for me to live in isolation and paranoia. Unfortunately, I do have to temper my enthusiasm for other people and be a bit more discerning in my choice of "friends". The sad thing is, I considered my coworkers like family to me. So this is a double whammy for me. To me, I would die to protect those I love--and this includes my friends. It has been a painful lesson for me to learn that this is truly an "every man for himself" world and that something Timmy has told me does have a slight ring of truth to it.