The root of all evil and trust

Most can be trusted with a life, but money is another matter altogether

If there is one thing that I’m sick of hearing people say, it’s: “I’d trust this person with my life.”

It’s annoying because what it indicates, to me at least, is that someone has a basic level of human decency. And to make basic human decency an ultimate declaration of trust is misguided. The fact is, I would trust most people with my life.

Think about it. If you saw some stranger hanging from a cliff, what would you do? You’d freak out just like any other remotely decent human being and help that person.

My point is, most people are at least inherently good enough that they would not just let a stranger die if they could prevent it.

No, the real test of trust is not with a life, but with money. It’s a hard thing to live with if you let another human being die. But money, on the other hand, is the easiest thing in the world to compromise one’s own morals over.

Let’s face it: Currency is something that all people strive to accumulate and a lot of us will do whatever it takes to get more of it. People lie, cheat and steal to get money. People will sell drugs to get it and money is even a common motive for murder.

We live in a world that is driven by the attainment of money, whether it’s trying to make enough just to get by or it’s the kind of corporate greed that lands financial tycoons in prison. People spend their whole lives and a lot of energy trying to “stay in the black.”

But the truth is that society sets us up for failure right from the start.

Take me for instance. Like many students, I’m in the process of accumulating a massive amount of debt from student loans. So much so, I’ll probably spend the next 20 years paying it off after I graduate.

To add to a student’s financial woes, credit card companies were estimated to have spent $15.4 billion in a single business quarter alone on advertising in 2001. As if the pressure to have a credit card wasn’t bad enough, companies make it so enticing to spend beyond our financial means, since it doesn’t feel like spending real money.

To keep us indebted, major credit card companies have invested obscene amounts in lobbying governments to make it harder than ever to get credit card debt cleared by filing for bankruptcy.

So long as we live in a world driven by money, it shall always remain the primary source of greed in the world. That means money is an evil which makes it easier than any other for us to betray another person over.

So, the next time you really want to convey that you trust someone unconditionally, try saying “I’d trust them with my money” instead.

Alexander Kavanagh is a University of Winnipeg student.

Published in Volume 64, Number 4 of The Uniter (September 24, 2009)

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