Keeping One's Word

I’m thinking about a phrase that I don't hear too much anymore.

"You have my word."

Remember when someone's word was his bond? The word was sacred and nothing else mattered, but the fulfillment of the word.

For years in our grandparents time and maybe even in our parents time if you gave your word on it it was as binding as any legal contract we have today. It was binding because it came from within the moral and ethical essence of the heart. More often than not the agreement was between two people. No witnesses, no notary, no piece of legal paper.

What happened? Where did the trust go?

In the days of long ago exchanges of service and barter the promises to pay were not sealed with a legal piece of paper they were cemented agreements with a handshake. 

If a problem arose, you didn't have to press one for account balance and press two to record a message, and never get to a live person, you went to see the person, looked them in the eye, and talked and the word was held sacred.

Our country was built on handshakes. I remember my father saying, "it is something that I must do, I gave my word.

To my mind these days we need less legalities and codicils and addendums and contracts and more handshakes and "you have my word."