Why Public Trust Matters
I have talked recently about the importance of public trust- both in individuals and institutions. It creates healthier, happier, and more productive individuals and groups.
However, this has certainly been decreasing in my own society lately.
I know my public trust has decreased and that is an early warning sign of personal vulnerability. People who distrust their society are at greater risk of finding negative attachments, like through extremism or getting scammed, or simply withdrawing from society altogether.
I do not want any of that for myself. I want to work to rebuild my trust in society. I will put a voice to one example of that lost trust in this blog post.
A Scandal That Shook My Faith
A few years ago, there was a scandal regarding my country’s military. There had been a decades-long cover up of sexual abuses by many different members, including those of senior rank.
Women who had been in that system had talked about being dismissed, violated, and outcast. I found this really jarring specifically because these are the people whose job it is to keep citizens safe, and they were previously people who I really looked up to.
This led to a crisis of personal trust not just for me but for many citizens.
I hadn’t realized how deep this mistrust had become until recently. About a month ago, a European town celebrated the 80th anniversary of the day it was liberated from the Nazis. They celebrated my home country who liberated them and specifically the soldiers (who are now about 100 years old) who came to their rescue.
I got teary-eyed at the response. You could feel the gratitude of the citizens even all these years later.
Heroism & Shame
I had slipped into a negative perception of the military- which was not undue. The recent negative reputation of soldiers in my country was very much earned. But I allowed this to get in the way of me appreciating the sacrifices of good people. I allowed pessimism and distrust to be my dominant emotions for this issue.
The Cost of Betrayed Trust
I also felt unsafe.
It is sad when if something bad happens to you that you can no longer go up to a soldier to ask for help. You now know that they do not have your best interest at heart. That doesn’t sound like a very free country to me.
I get the same feeling when any person in a position of public trust betrays this: police officers, teachers, firefighters, religious leaders, etc. Scandals like this certainly strain my trust in our society.
It also causes hesitation in trusting the future words and actions of these people and organizations because that trust was broken. And the smoke and mirrors of it all just adds to it. It will take decades to rebuild this trust.
Messy Bun Book Lover
Postscript
This might have been somewhat of a difficult blog post for some to read. Both in content and writing style. Part of that is my own evasiveness.
I started this blog anonymously, which allows me to speak more freely especially about sensitive issues. That is why I did not specifically name any details such as my country in this blog post. (Although, if people would like to guess I have no problem with this.)
I had to share this information in a way that I was comfortable with. Hopefully in the future we can all discuss these issues openly.
I realize that this is ironic considering I was just criticizing my country’s military for its lack of transparency. It is one of the most annoying consequences of abuses of power. Those who misuse power will often be untruthful and lack transparency. And those who are harmed by this will also by consequence need to be untruthful and forgo transparency out of a sense of self-protection and harm minimization. But victim and perpetrator are not the same.
The perpetrator knows they will lose something by the truth being told, the victim knows that the truth will help them heal but that they will likely be hurt by the perpetrator and the perpetrator’s supporters if they tell it. The dishonesty is not of the same moral weight.
It can feel really frustrating to want to speak fully and not be able to.
To be clear, I was never hurt personally by the military only by the cost they have put on society- I never served, personally. I did however begin the process of enlisting but withdrew due to the sense of the toxic culture I was getting. This was about a year before the stories of sexual abuses became public. I would have loved to serve my country in a peaceful way but have had to find other ways and places to do so.
(Originally posted on June 7, 2025)