Trust

Trust. A strong word.

Who do I trust? My wife yes, or we would not have been married for 35 years. My friends yes, or they would not be my friends. My family yes, with knowledge and understanding of their frailty.

It stops about there. I have lost trust in my nation, government ( federal state and local), and bureaucracy, including the police.

Where did this start, this loss of trust? Probably with my call up for National Service in 1972, although I didn't know it then. I was 20 years old, proud and passionate to serve my country as a soldier, in the aftermath of huge public disenchantment with Australia's involvement in Vietnam. In my blind ignorance I followed the path laid out for me in folklore by the ANZAC myth with pride and exuberance.

I have lived my life within the norms of society. I did all the things ingrained into me in my childhood and education. I finished school and found employment, married, took a mortgage and bought property, raised a family. All this I did without really thinking, in the trust and good faith that all I was doing was righteous and worthy in a civilized society.

So why is that now I'm lacking in trust? Well it took me a decade or so to realize that I had been totally duped about Vietnam and that crap. What a joke on me? The naysayers  were right. I was wrong. Vietnam was a total farce and my nation should be ashamed by its involvement. But we have not learned. We have been involved in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which really have nothing to do with us and I am shamed and angered.

I pay a small fortune in private health insurance. It is set up so that it comes out of my bank account in a monthly payment direct debit, thousands of dollars in a year. Somehow or other another company got onto me and offered me more benefit at a lower price. Of course I took the bait. Within days the original company was in contact, offering a better deal so I switched back. This is not a new thing, it has happened with electricity supply and telephone service and it makes me the consumer aware that if you are not on the ball you are getting ripped off. The cost of these things goes up above the CPI every year and if you don't shop a around and threaten to leave your existing company you are gouged. And my council rates go up well above the CPI every year for the last decade and there's no shopping around with this, you just have to cop it sweet.

I am constantly harassed by the media about terrorism, the ice epidemic, pedophilia in the church, wife bashing and murder, yet all I see is police with speed cameras and radar guns trying to catch me a few k's over the limit. I see bush fires yet nobody does anything about reducing the risk, I mean by that the removal of fire hazardous vegetation or the prevention of building 'in the bush'.

I could go on and on. I'm pissed right off. I have no trust in government. It is a self serving con job acting in self interest, with no regard for the good of community and people, beyond a facade of bullshit.

Yes, sadly, I have lost trust.