I’m looking at a ten-dollar bill, reading our national credo: “In G-d we Trust”. I very much support the sentiment; but isn’t it interesting that we’ve chosen our money as the place for it to be enshrined?
Actually, I think it was a perfect choice, as it sends us a critical message for these historic times.
Watching the world over the past nine months, I’ve learned that ‘Trust’ is the lifeblood of our financial system because it supports consumer/investor confidence, credit etc. The inverse is that a ‘trust deficit’ pushes us into a dangerous swoon.
Our economy is a labyrinthian system of relationships, and relationships tend to deflate when there’s no trust coursing through their ‘veins’.
We’re suffering from a ‘Trust Deficit’. We’ve been disappointed, misled and betrayed; our trust – the elixir of a healthy society - is severely diluted.
Here’s a ‘Trust Stimulus Plan’, in several phases:
- Close your eyes and contemplate the definition of ‘Trust’: A sense of confident reliance on the integrity of a specific person or object. For something to be trustworthy, it has to be sturdy, steadfast, ‘immovable’. Which of your Principles or Values are beyond negotiation, even when they prove inconvenient? Think about it.
- In that light: Do you trust yourself? We all have instincts, and we ingeniously rationalize our impulses so that we can categorize them as ‘the right thing to do’. Do you have the principled courage to hold your ‘gut instinct’ up to the light of objective morality? Do you have confidence that you’ll always persevere with loyalty to your values? (were you ever disappointed with yourself?).
- Recognize that in order to inspire Trust, we first have to trust ourselves. Build up your internal ‘trust account’. Study. Read. Think about your principles and values, and observe your own conduct. Does your reality match your principles? With mini-exercises, build your own sense of trust.
- Man-made principles are as easy to change as they are to create; we can always find reasons for an exception. Recognize that you have a Creator and a Destiny. Your loyalty to integrity isn’t a high-minded choice; it’s your responsibility to life. If you believe in a G-d Who cares, your principles are no less negotiable than is your very existence.
- When you build trust in yourself, you’ll be that much more trustworthy to others. In your microcosmic world, you will have started to oil the system.
- Never forget the dollar’s message: In G-d[,] We [can find] Trust.