Thursday 13

1. Today I am thinking about the word "trust."

2. Trust is defined as a relationship between two people, generally.

3. But it can also be a relationship with an animal, or a thing - like corporations or governments.

4. I am trusting you, my dear reader, to not use my words or photos in some nefarious manner when I place them upon a blog page. Not that I write things that are bad, or take naughty pictures, but you never know what people will do with things once they are on the Internet. So I must trust that you - someone I likely do not know - will honor the implicit contract of reader and writer and not steal my words or take them for your own (copyright violation).

5. Trust plays a big role in society. Could society function without trust? Let's think about it.

6. If we didn't have an implied trust that people will obey laws, would we ever leave our houses? Would we drive on the road? Would we trust the clerk at the grocery store not to steal from us?

7. Bad things happen that break these societal trusts. People steal credit card numbers. This is a breakdown of societal trust. When you're afraid to use a credit card online, you've lost your trust in the system.

8. Some corporations are trusted more than others. I trust Coca-Cola, for example, to sell me a product that tastes like it is supposed to. I trust Del Monte to sell me good-tasting canned vegetables. I trust Microsoft not to screw me over with its operating systems (might have to rethink that one, we'll see). What corporations do you trust, and why?

9. I trust my friends to have my back. Sometimes that means they call and check on me. Sometimes it means I call and check on them. Sometimes it means we help each other out with visits, chicken soup, or whatever is required at a specific time.

10. Family comes with an implied trust. Society on the whole insists that family members should be trusted and families themselves are a microcosm of society in many instances. Families break down, though - through divorce, drug use, alcoholism, bigamy, adultery, abuse, and multiple other reasons. Other families, though, are consistently true and there for each other.

11. We also trust the government - or did. Once we trusted them to ensure that our drugs were safe. We trusted to them to ensure the quality of our food. We trusted them to keep our National Parks safe and to keep our heritage available through museums. We trust the government to wisely use our taxes. We trust the government to keep us safe from enemies. (I don't trust the government anymore.)

12. We trust people all the time and don't even think about it. We trust the airline pilot to fly the plane. We trust the bus drivers, teachers, principals, etc. with our children. That's why it makes news when that trust is violated, when a bus driver wrecks or hurts a child, or whatever. That trust has been broken.

13. Broken trusts serve as warning signs. The more trust is broken, the worse the relationship, whether that's a one-on-one with a spouse, friend, or family member, or a relationship with a corporation or government. Waning trust signals a breakdown of society.

Do you think society is broken?

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 587th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.