Trust and Aqua Alta

I've just rediscovered the novels of Donna Leon. She writes the Inspector Brunetti mysteries set in Venice. The stories are at once spell binders and glimpses of day-to-day existence adrift in that city where the water and Italian politics dictate the way of life.

Brunetti is a family man of common background married to a woman descended from the ruling class. This allows him to dine at the most elegant tables in the city while easily relating to the people in the little bars where he drinks his coffee and sometimes takes a sandwich.

Throw in his stylish but ass-kissing boss with a secretary that is a confirmed computer hacker and the nucleus of characters for most investigations are complete.

Trust here is a set of concentric circles.

Imagine dropping a pebble into a pond. Wavelets circle away from the pebble out and out. In Venice, the closest circle is family. Next is neighborhood. Past that is friends from school, elite social connections and possibly referral based alliances.

For everyone else, Trust is the exception, not the rule.

People from the south cannot be believed. You can have confidence in Sicilian's ability to manage but not In their motives. The police are not honest but politicians are worse. The one time people seem to pull together is when the water rises and floods homes, plazas, campos, campaniles, the entire city. They call it Aqua Alta.

Their problems are a drop in the bucket compared to ours in the USA.

The question is: Do we have a similar lack of belief to look forward to? Should we start now to find ways to cope with a complete breakdown of confidence in police and politicians and patriotism? Is it possible to turn around our eroding expectations? Can we turn back from arrogant and ill-advised comments about the US citizens of Puerto Rico following a hurricane. Those aspersions started in the oval office and seeped down.

Aqua Alta is here now for the USA.

A large percentage of the population still believes they made the right decision in electing a man that can't deliver on his promises. Strange, since he is of the same party as the majority in the House and Senate. There seems to be lack of trust between the legislative and administrative branches.

There are a number of people that believe that the problem is the Democrat party and the liberal press. They don't listen to or watch the liberal press they are so concerned about. They refuse to hear any facts, opinions or viewpoints that are not the ones they currently espouse.

We don't need an umbrella. We need shelter from the storm.

I have friends that are advocating using the 25th amendment to remove the president from office. (Look it up. It avoids all the difficulties with impeachment.) I've heard others say to just keep calling out the absurdities. In my view after enough of that we would become so indoctrinated that it will take a catastrophic act of stupidity to even begin to get our attention.

My recommendation is to start at home.

Vote in your local elections. Make it a point to get the mini-minds out of office. Stop allowing people that bring religious arguments to educational decisions to serve on school boards. Remove any single-issue person from office and/or possible election by declaring against their attempt to control the population.

Put level-headed folks who you can trust in office. Seek out those that want to minimize and eliminate new laws and administrative rules. Then help them do the job you elected them to do. It is up to you. 

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His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for Trust-based Brand development, Positioning and business development on and off-line. He is also a sought-after International Speaker.

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com