A few days ago I watched a movie about a pedophile priest.
A sadly familiar story alas.
The saddest part of this wretched tale is that his superiors knew about his guilty secret but never did anything about it.
A common case of “omertà”, widely practiced by professional associations.
This led me to ponder the following question:
In these complicated times, who can we trust?
When I was a child I was taught to trust figures of authority, but nowadays much fewer people feel confident that these emblematic figures have our best interest at heart.
Politicians? Cops? Doctors? Lawyers? Priests? Bankers?
Can we trust them? Or do they put their own interest above ours?
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they do.
If I had to draw a cartoon about this distressing situation, I would show a man in a bamboo cage wearily watching sharks circling his flimsy enclosure.
Today, instead of telling their children to blindly trust traditional figures of authority, parents would be well advised to instill a healthy dose of skepticism in their catechism.
Does it sound cynical? Absolutely, but cynical people are less likely to get fleeced than trusting souls.
I am not saying that altruism is dead, but it is more the exception than the norm.
In this world, you are more likely to encounter a thousand Bernie Madoff instead of a single Mother Teresa.
So, can you trust anybody?
Yes, but with a bucket of salt.
It would be wise to remember that
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” Lord Acton
Do not come to a meeting to merely listen, because silence implies consent.
Come prepared with facts and very pointed questions
The kind that makes politicians squirm.
And above all, beware of wolves clothed in clerical garbs.
They could be extremely hazardous to your health.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Gospel of Matthew 7:15, King James Version).
Cynical indeed, but realistic!
Alain
