Most of us 55 and older have reasons for our distrust and not just because we heard a youngish person say, “But it’s mostly the old and people with other problems who are dying.”

We are not living in fear. Still, we have a healthy respect for the virus and the devastation it is causing and we want to avoid costly medical misadventures.

After all, some of us are walking, pre-existing-condition time bombs. We’ve gone from being healthy as a pony to not going anywhere without our health insurance card. We have a long list of symptoms, from bad backs and weak hearts to achy knees and wheezy lungs — just ask us if you have several hours to spare.

Having underlying health issues makes us more vulnerable to severe symptoms, even death, if we catch COVID-19. Every sneeze is cringe-worthy. We have become aging hippy-chondriacs.

So most of us are careful to mask up, keep a social distance and wash the fingerprints off our hands.

Others of us — age immaterial — treat the pandemic as a political football to be punted around in the mud at family gatherings.

Now we’re even looking at Santa Claus with a skeptical eye — unless the grand old philanthropist is wearing a face shield.

The truth is, “Never trust anyone over 30” and “Never trust anyone under 55” are both pure silliness. We should take people one at a time, regardless of age, sex, color, political party, religion or lack thereof.

People of any age can earn our trust: family members, friends, scientists, nurses and doctors. Even whole countries — hello, Switzerland — are known to be trustworthy. Actor Tom Hanks (according to a Reader’s Digest poll, the most trustworthy man in America) tops the list.

Those of us who have survived to 55, and beyond, may be skeptical of polls, but we have learned discipline over years of painful experience. That discipline tells us sacrifice now for rewards later. We’ll give up one ball game this year to go to 10 later.