Book of the Week: "Trust" by Pete Buttigieg

If there is one word for 2021, it would have to be Trust.

There were a lot of things lost in 2020, but the biggest one is trust. As a society, we have lost trust in our government and only making matters worse, that same government of ours has lost the trust of some of our more fervent supporters by our actions (i.e. the way our government has handled the COVID-19 pandemic). But trust can be restored. 

While it may be hard to trust the government to do what is right for us, it is paramount that we put our trust in them and, mutually, they put their trust in us. That's the way a society works. Everyday we are in some sense or another putting our trusty in someone else's hands. When we are crossing the street, we trust the guy driving down the road will stop at the crosswalk and won't run us over. We put our trust in the cashier in the store that when we hand them a 20 dollar

bill for an item that costs eight dollars, we will get the 12 dollars back. Those are all little things, but they add up to big things. (Little Drops Make Big Drops.) 

I'm not trying to be all sunshine and roses here and say trust is easy, because it is far from it. If you're one of the fortunate people who who is part of the majority, trust is easy. You don't have to worry about driving five miles over the speed limit, but if you're African-American you don't have that type of luxury. You've seen from past experiences - either directly or indirectly - that there are people out there with ulterior motives. 

See the case of Sandra Bland and Texas state trooper Brian Encinia. On a July afternoon in 2015, Officer Encinia pulled over Bland, who had recently moved to Texas, for failing to signal a lane change. After approaching the car, Bland appeared agitated, but Encinia did nothing to mitigate Bland's angst and the situation escalated to Encinia threatening to pull her from the car. He called for back up and when back-up came, Bland was arrested. She was found dead, hanging from a noose in her jail cell three days later. Encinia was fired for not attempting to de-escalate the situation. 

This all could have been avoided and Bland would still be alive today if Encinia practice patience and did not engage in argumentative behavior despite being faced with it. Encinia was a Texas state trooper for just under a year and that span of time he wrote over 1,500 tickets - including issuing tickets for minor offenses such as not having the proper reflected tape or small speeding infractions. He was looking to use his power. And that is exactly what he did in Bland's case. 

What Encinia did not know was Bland was trying to rebuild herself. Moving to another state, starting a new job, only to fall into the same scenario that left her broken in the first place. She was distraught and i crisis the days before she ended her life. And it was all because the officer had a power trip. He didn't trust her and she didn't trust him. 

That is why trust is extremely important. It is a case of life and death - and not just about COVID deaths. Across the board. 

(Note the example of Sandra Bland came from Malcolm Gladwell's "Talking to Strangers" which was a book of the week back in November, 2019.)