QUICK THOUGHTS: trust today
QUICK THOUGHTS: trust today
Jesus got on the fisherman's boat and with few but precise indications of the
route, the nets were filled with fish. He changed fisherman and boat and the
same thing happened. This is an example of how to earn the trust of someone who
will later give their life so as not to betray such a deserving man. We tell
this, because it is the most extraordinary case of how an ordinary mortal has
managed to earn immoderate trust from other mortals like him. The fishermen
first trusted him, followed him in his ideas, believing in him became a true
primordial but powerful act of faith, so strong that in the following years
many suffered martyrdom to defend his name. Now we might think: Were the
fishermen duped because they seek guidance, or because it was the guidance that
created the conditions for duping the fishermen? If I were a believer I would
opt for the first hypothesis, but as a poor non-believer I have no doubts, the
imposter had invented a good way to create a following, to gain admirers who
will become proselytes. For centuries therefore, the problem of placing or not
placing trust in someone or something has been decisive and trust has been
condemned to a life full of uncertainties and frustrations. We certainly have
faith, but not without doubts, difficulties and constraints. It would take a
"muzzle" to our left lobe of the brain, to have absolute certainty
about the honesty of the people who ask us to be confident. Trust in political
Europe, in non-profit robbers, in charity activists, trust in holy popes, in
politics, trust in a guiding spirit, trust in the community, in the company,
trust in the parish priest, trust in the lawyer, in the sacraments, in the
police, in marriage, it is a process fraught with difficulties. Already from
this very long list of elements that require our trust, we can already grasp
some common threads, some trails of thought that build "trust" and
they are: authority and history, duration and reputation, the sense of
certainty, the persistence, all elements from which that instinctive sense that
is to trust in something or someone is born. Once there was journalism that
helped us in the process of building trust, but now the market uses journalism
to create artificial and high-sounding images, such as to lead us into gross
errors. No one trusts journalists anymore. Today we are alone, there are no
visible ways to grant trust, the fickleness of rules has increased, the speed
of changes has increased, the fragility of bonds. We lack the example of
others, we lack the certainty of history prey to revisionism, we lack
persistence, security, these were fundamental stimuli for placing trust in
someone or in some institution. We can only trust intimates. Much less than
some cohabitant and, if we meet a passerby we easily change sidewalk, even
worse, if he is dressed slightly strange we even speed up the pace. Trusting is
very important for our well-being and it is a process that is part of man's
"quick thinking", of the instinct that makes us recognize a danger,
and we cultivate a hope of individual morality precisely in the presence of a
relationship of trust. It often makes us feel good to have faith in an almost
unknown person, it's a gesture of love for life, immediate, strong, and
sometimes even reckless. Understanding our sense of social belonging, our
altruism, understanding our kindness, is a question that answers the question:
who am I? It is to this intimate, passionate and decisive question that we give
an answer with trust. The web creates relationships of trust at any distance
and is the most fascinating modern issue that affects our very human behavior.
Exchanging messages and all types of media between strangers thousands of
kilometers away is developing a strong sense of trust in someone, it is
bringing out new empathies imbued with altruism and a sense of responsibility.
It doesn't matter if these correspondences sometimes disappear in real
encounters, because they are a strong response to the individual need to place
trust in someone. The new fact is that, with such powerful communication tools
and increasingly rapid travel, we have increased the opportunities to trust
even those who live thousands of kilometers away from us. The uniqueness of
someone we trust responds to our need for ethical behavior towards others, and
the particularity of this feeling consists in being tacit, fast, and immutable.
Trust is a feeling that doesn't want to be distorted, and remains of great
value even when it is forgotten, or when it becomes superfluous. It is in this
way that one feels alive, belonging, and very human. Our hope of aggregation is
realized, and our humanity is expressed in very strong vital impulses, which
ask for spaces to express themselves, and trusting is an extraordinary life
event. Above: the Quirinal