Loss of Trust in America

Trust is the central element in our national motto.  Do you recall this 4-word phrase?  If you need a reminder of this iconic verbiage, just grab a coin or some paper money and you’ll find it there.  Perhaps, you can’t recall the motto.  Since we don’t study our money when making a transaction, our trustful motto may remain buried in the background – invisible while in plain sight.  I’ll bet that some curious readers are scanning a dollar bill right now! 

 As our trustful motto seems out of view, so has trust across society become much less visible.  When we do stumble across it, it can feel as if we have struck gold.  Years ago, for example, I wrote a post about a proprietor who showed me such a high level of trust that I memorialized the incident in this blog and will never forget the vignette. 

The trust vacuum seems most evident in our political space.  The citizenry does not trust elective officials, particularly those of the opposing political party.  This phenomenon has spread widely now that the political space has metastasized far beyond conventional political boundaries.  Examples of this political mission creep are widespread.  Hard to believe that a public health campaign in a deadly pandemic – which in a prior era would have been welcomed by all – has become as political as tax or immigration policy.  Public health leaders were lambasted as being lying and corrupt tools of the government or the pharmaceutical industry.  Trust in the media continues to decay with some legitimate justification.  Folks or organizations who espouse a viewpoint on an issue are often assumed to have an unspoken and stealth agenda.  Consider a politician who wants to retain a military base in his district that the Defense Department argues should be closed.  How about a political leader who claims election fraud but only if the desired candidate loses?  Once these conflicts of interest are exposed, then distrust explodes.  Would it have been more honest at the onset of the pandemic for public health leaders to state that masks were advised for medical professionals and not the general public because of a limited supply rather than to suggest that they were not medically necessary?

Credibility squandered may be hard to recover. 

Recently, I was on a road trip and came across a scene that impressed me enough to photograph it and share it here with readers.  A flower shop was closed but an array of plants remained outside.  Clearly, this proprietor has trust in the community.  I think we all know what the fate of these plants might be in many other locales.  I have lived years ago in NYC and have never witnessed such a scene.

  A Trusting Scene from Worthington, Ohio

Trust must be earned.  And it requires letting oneself be vulnerable.  If you confide a secret to a good friend, then you are trusting that the information will remain secure.  Trust is the connective tissue that strengthens all vibrant and successful relationships.  This applies to business partners, romantic couples, teachers and students, law enforcement and the public, members of a team, doctors and patients, lawyers and clients, and even bloggers and readers.