Day 454: In You I Trust

We spend much of our lives searching for answers. Sometimes we find something that feels good to believe in, and we place our trust in this belief. We find comfort in this belief. The belief gives us clarity. The belief tells us who we are and who we should be. The belief tells us how to live. The belief tells us which choices are the right ones. The belief takes responsibility for our lives. We place ourselves in the hands of our belief.

Sometimes we place our trust in another person. This person becomes our compass. This person tells us what is right and what is wrong. This person comforts us. This person protects us. This person gives us hope. This person lifts us up. This person makes us feel like we belong. This person inspires us to be more. This person becomes the center of our universe. This person is our idol. This person is everything we wish we were.

We start to believe that we cannot do anything, or change, without the help of our person/belief. We feel like we depend on this, and we like it. We like having something or someone that is on our side - that looks out for us. We like not having to make too much of an effort when making choices to determine if the choice we are making is really best. We like having something or someone to show us the way forward.

Leaders are definitely an exception within the human race. There are usually only a handful of leaders alive at any given time. Leaders use their charisma, public speaking, flair, intellect or plain old brilliance to become the directors of a people - to show people which way forward is best. Best for who is what the leader determines, for we seldom stop to consider who or what stands to benefit from our actions. We are just so glad to have found someone who makes us feel good, someone who has discovered and shown us something that makes us feel complete. For this experience we have been given we would go to the ends of the earth out of gratitude to our leader.

An interesting thing happens in between all of this is that we forget how to lead ourselves, we forget how to direct ourselves. We forget how to determine if our choices are truly what is best. We rely on the convenience of our convictions and lose our ability to use common sense. We lose our ability to think independently. We come to rely on our belief/person to provide us with all of the answers to all of our questions. Soon we do not know how to answer questions for ourselves anymore. Soon we forget how to test something for ourselves to challenge its validity and prove, one way or the other, that it is in fact something that will provide the best outcome.

We have regressed into pre-walking infancy - we refuse to get up and walk because we much rather enjoy being carried. It's an odd cycle that repeats - we deny our ability to stand on our own 2 feet and yet cry out and beg for the ability to have all the answers.