Over the past week, one word keeps repeating itself: trust. The election in the United States has indicated that this country is not only deeply divided, but many are fundamentally distrusting in any result that is not in line with one’s own beliefs. Customized news feeds and the ability for anyone with an internet connection to be considered an authority have eroded the necessary intellectualism to live in such a complex world. Moreover, the rampant lies of President Trump have given permission for people to choose persuasion over proof, and hate over trust.
In an earlier post, I asked what people will do with the anger that dominates this country? But this is not the whole question, because anger is deeply connected to fear; it is a necessary stage of the grief process – second after denial. Denial defined the 2016 election, when people willingly ignored the necessity to evolve; the facts of foreign interference; and the importance of values, temperament and character in the Presidency. However, the initial cause of grief is the loss of dominance and control. In this new era of globalization and inter-connectedness, each culture and country must recognize the gifts of diversity and overcome traditional dualistic thinking. Rarely is there good and evil, but more often good, better and best. Rarely is there black and white, but more often shades of grey. Rarely is there a path, but multiple paths – not to a solution but to an evolving question.
Thus, the question is not how are we to bring peace to the anger, but how are we to trust when we are no longer in control of all that we once believed? How do we overcome the fear that we are vulnerable because we are interconnected and fundamentally dependent – by design actually?
We must learn trust. Trust is the manifestation of intimacy; of the willingness to allow ourselves to be seen and to see others. While technology has done much for the ability to tell our stories; it has veiled our intimacy – our vulnerability. Is it any wonder why we are in such a state of distrust?
Trust is the consequence of conscience as well as capability and competency.
Trust is the fruit of integrity, which is a result commitment and constancy. It is a forwarding-thinking judgement on the past, and an extrapolation of character. With whom and where we place our trust is an ethical statement, reflective of our own moral judgement. As such, we can also say that trust is the consequence of conscience as well as capability and competency. Again, is it any wonder why we are in such a state of distrust? How difficult it is for us to trust without a more fundamental understanding and experience of character and conscience?
If there is to be healing to the grief, then we must recognize many of us have some difficult days ahead. The façade of bravado and control will be broken revealing a sadness that comes with the recognition that we must now live differently. Thankfully, not everyone is living on the same spectrum or timeline. There are many of us who will give witness to hope, living with courage in a rather unreliable world. These will be the people who have put their trust in those around them – not simply in one person or another, but in the collective goodness of our humanity.