Betrayed Trust Breaks Hearts
We have been betrayed by those we were taught to trust. The realization is heart breaking.
I was raised to respect my elders. Many of my generation (boomers) were taught to trust our teachers, policemen, doctors and other authority figures. We were taught that they were there to guide and protect us. Presidents and lesser politicians deserved our deference and respect, as did the clergy of every faith. Those who reported the news to us, those who staffed our institutions and agencies were to be relied upon.
Now, after so many scandals, so many instances of fraud, corruption and abuse we sense that our trust was unwarranted. Maybe, at first, like a worrisome windshield crack, that first fracture of trust can be be put to the back of our minds. Then, the final shattering comes suddenly leaving an emotional devastation that can never be repaired.
The dawning awareness that we have been betrayed fragments our surety in ways that cannot be fixed. Each of us comes to his or her own epiphany eventually: I could never believe (insert your own example here) could be so evil, so treacherous, until you do come to believe that treachery abounds and your trusting heart breaks and aches.
Despair becomes pervasive and disillusionment runs deep. Yet, somehow, some find the strength to carry on despite the perfidy. May we be among those who persist and prevail.
This is what happens when people betray the public trust. It should be a commandment taught in churches and schools
My dad told me at 7 when I asked him a question about why he was spending so much time fixing a whirligig at the hometown playground he was hired to repair. His words resonate in me every single day: never betray the public trust, he said with a fierceness I had not seen before. We have as citizens been betrayed again and again and again until there is no trust or faith and little hope left. And there you have it.
When I was 5, I won an art contest for drawing a picture of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had drawn a picture of my futuristic self, dressed as a doctor, helping a child that was sick. I went on to go to architecture school and have practiced as an Interior Designer for the past 18 years. This morning I thought to myself, I would like to go back to school and fulfill that childhood dream, and become a Naturopathic doctor!