It started with the Swine Flu. The CDC and World Health Organization were conducting press conferences and sharing information through the media and people responded. Some pooh-poohed it from the beginning as hype and ignored the warnings to wash hands, cover sneezes and stay tuned for more information as hype from a media and government that we could not trust. When I asked these folks how they knew it was not true and what it would take for them to believe it, answers were elusive. Days passed and it became increasingly clear that, while the disease was spreading and people were getting sick in the US, few people were dying. This confirmed for many their original belief that government agencies and the media were not to be trusted.

“Did you know that more than 36,000 people die of the regular flu every year?” I was asked by person after person when I asked them about their thoughts on the World Health Organization raising pandemic alert numbers from 4 to 5. These were the same people who had told me that the media and government agencies were not to be trusted. Yet that statistic came from the CDC and was delivered through the media.

What made people trust that number and not the other information? The geek in me was intrigued. 

Since then I have, with growing intention, begun to view the world through the lens of and examination of trust. As I scan the news, catch up on blogs, read Facebook updates and eavesdrop on cafe conversations I listen for evidence of trust paradoxes and wonder what it all means. I am so interested that trust in some form will likely form the foundation of the doctoral dissertation.

So, pun mildly intended, I hope I can trust the folks who kindly stop by and read this blog to share with me your observations – today or in the future – on examples of trust, mistrust or paradoxical trust relationships like those folks who didn’t trust the media until they found a message that they actually wanted to hear. I’m also interested in l learning if most of you operate with a glass half full or half empty approach to trust. Asked another way, do you trust people until they give you a reason not to or do you assume they are untrustworthy until they earn your trust? What implications does operating from this perspective have in your relationships, your approach to community and your faith?

Hope to hear from you…