Even before we started farming, we humans began interfering with the planet to shape the ecosystem according to our needs. By hunting other animals and gradually controlling nature, unknowingly we started controlling the Earth itself. We achieved all these targets through trust and cooperation among humans, and at that time, it was a necessity for survival on this planet. With cooperation, our numbers increased day by day.
Today, we have reached a stage where there is almost no space left for other animals on this planet. That level of encroachment did not happen overnight. We committed all these acts on the basis of trust, trust in each other, trust in our collective strength, and trust in our ability to dominate nature. But this trust slowly turned into overconfidence. And today, ironically, we have lost trust in each other completely.
No longer do we trust anyone on this planet, whether it is a friend, a relative, or even a family member. It will be extremely difficult for humans to survive without trust, because trust is the foundation of our social ecosystem. When the foundation collapses, we already know what follows.
Earlier, when people entered into deals or handled money, there were very few or sometimes no documents used as guarantees. Words, handshakes, and mutual understanding were enough. But if someone tries to do the same today, countless litigations arise in between. In such situations, documents speak. In many discussions, people spend hours trying to convince one another, but in the end, only documents are considered valid. Words exchanged between humans are no longer trusted. We have reached a position where documents are valued, not human intent.
Not only cooperation, but even the natural systems of living together that history speaks about, families, clans, gotras, and communities, were built on trust. That journey was not easy, but humans survived because of cooperation and mutual dependence. Today, we have lost both: natural cooperation and, interestingly, trust itself. Between siblings, within families, among groups of friends, trust has eroded everywhere. In fact, I can say that we are moving backward, even before the hunter-gatherer phase, where survival depended on collective trust.
This regression is clearly visible. For every small action or transaction today, the number of agreements is increasing day by day. Even as the number of pages grows thicker, it only proves one thing, that trust in humans is diminishing. Even when someone has good intentions, those intentions fall under the shadow of suspicion and get tangled in documents, clauses, and conditions. The more we document, the less we trust.
Look at marriages, partnerships, friendships, and even parent – child relationships. Everything now comes with conditions, written rules, and exit clauses. We have replaced emotional bonds with legal safeguards. Slowly, humans have started believing that paper is more reliable than people. This itself is evidence that we are drifting away from what made us human in the first place.
Unfortunately, if this continues, it will not just affect our relationships or systems, it will end our legacy as human beings.
Trust was never a weakness, it was our greatest strength. It allowed humans to build societies, share knowledge, and survive against nature’s harshest challenges. When trust disappears, cooperation dies, and when cooperation dies, society collapses silently. The loss of trust does not announce itself with destruction, it slowly hollows out humanity from within. If we fail to rebuild trust, not through documents but through responsibility and ethics, we may survive biologically, but we will no longer exist as humans in the true sense of the word.
It’s very true. Nothing can replace Trust. Trust is not a deed but deeds depends on trust.
Thanks for giving to read this wonderful creative session. Ur writings give a realisation. Wishing you all the best for ur future writings
Keep writing ..all the best