Trust

While out cycling this morning, I thought about trust.  Cycling along the roadway, I was trusting the drivers of the passing cars and trucks to obey traffic laws, thereby protecting my safety.  The drivers were likewise trusting their fellow drivers coming in the opposite direction, in this 55 MPH zone without a center divide or barrier, to also obey traffic laws, thereby protecting their safety.

Trust.  An essential, crucial aspect of society.  All too sadly, trust is threatened.

Existing throughout our lives, far more than that shared with our fellow motorists, trust is essential for every citizen.  We expect to be able to trust the merchants with whom we shop; the doctors in whom we entrust our health; the teachers who educate us; the bosses who employ us; the levels of government which serve us; the manufacturers who provide the products for our use; the unions in place to stand up for the workers; the clergy with whom we place our spiritual health; the politicians who we elect as our representatives and leaders of government; the military who defend us; the first responders who protect and care for us; the wives and husbands we marry; the friends in who we confide; the courts who adjudicate on our behalf; the aircrew who fly our aircraft; the media who are to objectively observe and report; and our fellow taxpayers and voters with whom we share responsibility.  Yes, trust in the essential, crucial connection between and with us all.

Yet, based on what we read, view, see, and experience, virtually every one of the examples of shared trust is threatened.  Examples abound, increasing exponentially it seems, of trust violated.  And violated intentionally and with forethought.  Not accidentally or haphazardly, but deliberately.  Brazen lies, theft, personal hubris, failure to accept responsibility, excessive compensation and profit taking, hyperbole, falsification of records, ignoring laws, and on and on are approaching the norm, rather than an exception of breach of trust.  Once the trust has been violated and breaches, our society doesn't seem to exact any serious consequence, either as punishment or deterrent.

How can our society, therefore, prosper and provide the environment in which each is free to pursuit success based on their God given talents and willingness to employ them?  How can this be possible in a society devoid of trust?