“Trust is congruence between what you say and do.” ― Peter F. Drucker
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the world has suddenly gone mad or if it’s always been this way. After all, we only have our own brief blip of a lifespan and whatever information we’ve managed to apprehend from history books to use as a gauge.
What I don’t remember from my younger years, and perhaps that’s a function of naivety, is having to question the veracity of everything. You could trust, at least to a point, that there was more than half a kernel of truth in what you saw and read. People who chose to believe myths, fallacies and outright lies were free to do so (as they should be) but for the most part they kept their theories to themselves and a few close confidants.
That’s not the case anymore. Fake pictures and videos that are so convincing it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not can be generated by children using a few AI prompts on a phone. “I’ll believe it when I see it” doesn’t work anymore. Those we once trusted to speak truth are now complicit in telling falsehoods solely to benefit themselves. Basic facts, like two plus two equals four, are now subject to arbitrary whims and manipulation. The rules of engagement have changed.
It’s no wonder we’re so uncomfortable, agitated, and untethered. The foundations on which we’ve long relied have become shifting sand.
Where does that leave us? It leaves us directly responsible for finding congruence in our own lives and living accordingly. Knowing our own values and matching our words and actions to them, staying away from the hypocrisy of “do as I say, not as I do” or “good for me, but not for thee.”