The In Flux Factor

If you’re having a casual conversation that could stand some kick, ask the person on the other side of the table if they trust in anything and why. Count 1-alligator, 2-alligator, 3-alligator as you await the response. You’ll probably find it a provocative query especially if you ask people between the ages of 16-21 years.

As a basketball player I sold short the importance of trust in a team or group construct; I never thought about it. But as a coach it’s become clear that teens to young adults are not confident in the consistency of life, people or even themselves. And I wish I could vouch for the incredulity of the suspicous climate in which we live but I can’t. I understand why young people doubt so much, trust so little. A shot in the dark says these young people are no different than you and I in that they’ve trusted before and that’s why they don’t now.

Frequent and abrupt change is one of the most feared aspects of life. Friends in the National Basketball Association (NBA) have talked of the difficulty of a late night trade that sends you 3,000 miles to a new team where you’re expected to perform at a high level despite undergoing the jarring of an environment switch. Young people will reference divorce in essays and fault themselves for the what they perceive as a catastrophe. If the world of 2009 differs drastically from previous periods in history, I wonder if the difference rests in the fact that the world is becoming a perpetual state of flux, continuous change.

Imagine a world with no constants. What if routes you take to work changed daily, law enforcement occurred sporadically if at all or schools were closed randomly throughout the year. Trust is certainly a hinge without which life cannot move freely and normally. Trust erodes easily but the positive I’ve seen is that people still value it. Where there’s trust there’s a sense of community, interdependence and the basic teamwork needed for humanity to flourish. The rub is that students and athletes with whom I’ve spoken want to know who or what they can and should trust. Let’s be prepared to answer them.