Our culture long since discarded the idea of objective truth, i.e., something is true or false no matter our feelings about it. I’ve understood this for a long time.
What did not occur to me until recently is that loss of truth brings with it loss of trust. If there is no knowable truth, just uncertainty, truth claims, lies and falsehoods, then what or who can you trust?
This introduces another level of dysfunction. You carry Who can I trust? into every interaction: Is this news fake, Is this business dishonest, Are these election results valid, Is this health info correct? Then we get litigiousness, lawlessness, even an inability to engage in bona fide relationships because, well, no one is trustworthy.
At best, we muddle through.
At worst, some fall into anxiety, disillusion, alienation, anomie, hopelessness. It’s why there’s so much talk today about mental health, even among gifted, wealthy young athletes, and especially among youth. Kids are committing suicide because their lives have lost meaning.
Truth and trust are not just philosopher topics. Their loss affects us every day.
But there is a remedy. Read your pennies: “In God We Trust.”
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2021
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