Though I’ve never lost my trust in the people who live in the United States, my trust gets tested at times. Then something happens that restores it. Last week was an example.
It doesn’t take much. It can be a small private incident or something major that occurs in public life. Regardless, when the situation occurs or someone stands up for what’s right, I think to myself, “That’s what this country is all about.”
This most recent case occurred last Friday after I finished a morning swim at out fitness facility. I came back to my locker. No one was around. On the bench next to me were a wallet, keys, five sandwiches, a smart phone, protein powder. Some guy left it all out in the open while he showered.
An evil person would have pilfered something or all of what lay there. But this guy TRUSTED the rest of us in the locker room. He had faith in us. It made me beam because I feel the same way.
At times though, you forget and start to think worse of people. His action, which I’m sure he never even remotely considered would affect someone else’s attitude for that day (and for MANY days afterwards), DID affect someone. It was me, but not only me, because another guy entered the locker room area a few minutes after I arrived.
He didn’t glance once at what lay there. I remarked, “This guy sure trusts everyone, doesn’t he?,” indicating the pile of his stuff on the bench.
The other man smiled and agreed. We talked about believing in other people to do the right thing, and our lives were enriched through that short conversation.
We never did see the man who left his clothes, possessions and food lying out. There was one other man in the shower area, a younger gentleman, so all the materials were likely his. And this enriched me further.
Because for an older codger like me, it was important to see the younger generation having that base of trust in his fellow human beings. We’ve lost too much of that recently, it seems to me. We don’t believe and trust in each other perhaps the way we did years ago.
I remember our family living in Nebraska in the late-1990s. After we left, whenever someone steered a conversation in the direction of fear for their possessions (someone breaking into their car or house, for example), I would say to them, “It’s not true everywhere.”
And, I would explain to them how in Nebraska we’d left our house unlocked, and people at work left their keys on the dashboard of their cars in the parking lot, with the doors unlocked. We trusted the community and the people who lived there.
It’s a good thing. We still have this in the United States. It’s not everywhere, that’s for sure. But, I think it’s important to remember we have implicit trust of our fellow citizens in many, many places, if not MOST of the country.
The examples of theft and break-ins are far too often the stories played on the media and incidents we may gossip about amongst ourselves. So those events stick with us and create fear. We don’t trust others.
I’m thankful for the younger gentleman who made my day. Maybe this column will help others a bit down their path.
It doesn’t take much. It can be a small private incident or something major that occurs in public life. Regardless, when the situation occurs or someone stands up for what’s right, I think to myself, “That’s what this country is all about.”
This most recent case occurred last Friday after I finished a morning swim at out fitness facility. I came back to my locker. No one was around. On the bench next to me were a wallet, keys, five sandwiches, a smart phone, protein powder. Some guy left it all out in the open while he showered.
An evil person would have pilfered something or all of what lay there. But this guy TRUSTED the rest of us in the locker room. He had faith in us. It made me beam because I feel the same way.
At times though, you forget and start to think worse of people. His action, which I’m sure he never even remotely considered would affect someone else’s attitude for that day (and for MANY days afterwards), DID affect someone. It was me, but not only me, because another guy entered the locker room area a few minutes after I arrived.
He didn’t glance once at what lay there. I remarked, “This guy sure trusts everyone, doesn’t he?,” indicating the pile of his stuff on the bench.
The other man smiled and agreed. We talked about believing in other people to do the right thing, and our lives were enriched through that short conversation.
We never did see the man who left his clothes, possessions and food lying out. There was one other man in the shower area, a younger gentleman, so all the materials were likely his. And this enriched me further.
Because for an older codger like me, it was important to see the younger generation having that base of trust in his fellow human beings. We’ve lost too much of that recently, it seems to me. We don’t believe and trust in each other perhaps the way we did years ago.
I remember our family living in Nebraska in the late-1990s. After we left, whenever someone steered a conversation in the direction of fear for their possessions (someone breaking into their car or house, for example), I would say to them, “It’s not true everywhere.”
And, I would explain to them how in Nebraska we’d left our house unlocked, and people at work left their keys on the dashboard of their cars in the parking lot, with the doors unlocked. We trusted the community and the people who lived there.
It’s a good thing. We still have this in the United States. It’s not everywhere, that’s for sure. But, I think it’s important to remember we have implicit trust of our fellow citizens in many, many places, if not MOST of the country.
The examples of theft and break-ins are far too often the stories played on the media and incidents we may gossip about amongst ourselves. So those events stick with us and create fear. We don’t trust others.
I’m thankful for the younger gentleman who made my day. Maybe this column will help others a bit down their path.