Daily Mood Quote
Day 139 – September 19, 2011
The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
~Ernest Hemingway
I think this is the first time I have ever used a quote from Ernest Hemingway, one of my favorite writers. Seems odd it took so long to quote such a noted writer. I guess it may have something to do with the quote itself, “trust.” An easy word to say, “I trust you” but it's apparently a hard word to understand, since it means so many different things to so many people. Here is what trust means to me. If you say it, you should do it; follow through. Its like making a promise, how many of us have left a trail of broken promises? Broken trusts?
In today's world it seems virtually impossible to trust anyone. A mistake you make ends up on Youtube, an email you write ends up on WikiLeaks, a conversation you have ends up the subject of a group discussion in the week's “after church” social gathering. What the hell? Where did confidentiality go? It seems as if you need to begin every relationship with little tests. Like putting a little air in a balloon to see if it leaks. All to often, you hear that darn hisssssssss...it's enough to make anyone a cynic.
In Mr. Hemingway's time, seems there were a greater percentage of people that could be trusted. Maybe it's because there were fewer ways to communicate. Then the Internet...it is a blessing and a curse. Why do we feel the need to blab everything about everybody, all the time. I feel bad for celebrities, it seems they can't go to the bathroom without it showing up on TMZ or Entertainment Tonight (ET). Imagine how a non-celebrity feels when their latest potty run is the subject of a discussion on Facebook? As Charlie Brown would say, “Good grief” (thank you Charles Schultz).
More and more our friends and loved ones seem to be driven to tell all about everything, all the time. Granted, there is a large percentage of the population you wouldn't ever trust (not picking on anyone but history has proven), anything that has a contract and fine print and some occupations. That's just the way it is. However, when adults and teens are relentlessly being bullied online after trusting “friends” “co-workers” “human resources” and even “family” with personal information, it is easy to see how we have entered an “Era of Paranoia,” rightfully so. And so, we have become less of a community. Here are some safe subjects; the weather, football, and the latest accident on the highway. Beyond that your taking a risk, data in the shredder and secure empty trash. That's a shame, we need to live behind walls, both real and digital, because we can't trust one another anymore.
How do we fix this? We begin by being trustworthy ourselves. In the Menards Sales Flyer this week, my husband read this quote to me this morning (funny where inspiration comes from), “If it is not the right thing to do, never do it, if it is not the truth, never say it. Keep your impulses in hand.” Something to think about. Another great quote came from Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, “In almost every profession – whether it's law or journalism, finance or medicine or academia or running a small business – people rely on confidential communications to do their jobs. We count on the space of trust that confidentiality provides. When someone breaches that trust, we are all worse off for it.” And we are always worse off for it.
Trust is a fragile thing and we are all its origin and its caretakers. If we are not trustworthy the community of humanity suffers a bit more every day. To be believed and to stand for what you say, these are elusive things, but things worth striving for. In the film version of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gary Cooper as Robert Jordan said “A man fights for what he believes in,...” Such is trust and trustworthiness; these two are worthy of being championed, today and everyday.
How will you grow “trust” today?
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote
Thank you for reading
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