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There’s always chatter about trust and where it applies when it comes to our public figures like politicians, mayors, teachers, doctors, police and even company directors.
I’m not sure how many people keep a trust chart on their bedroom wall (old school) or have a digital app on their smartphone (if phones are so clever why can’t they find their way home when lost).
On your well-conceived list of people who can or can’t be trusted who would you place at the top? I know it’s a tough question to ask but I assume politicians would be at the summit.
Maybe we could add; lawyers, insurance brokers, someone trying to sell you a second-hand car with a dodgy engine, property developers and the people looking for a ‘lasting relationship’ on Tinder.
Needless to say, most of our waking hours are based on being able to trust that things will work as they normally do, people we interact with will behave in a rational manner at work, across the counter or on the other side of the phone.
We require minimum standards to be met, services to be provided efficiently, the advice we receive to be helpful and results to indicate tangible improvement.
But does Cyprus deliver on all these expectations? When we are sick do hospitals offer the best standard of care, is crime prevention dealt with sufficiently, if a property needs fixing is it job well done, are our schools preparing the next generation for the future.
When we seek legal, medical or financial advice we often get the brush off.
Most of us have a mixed bag of experiences depending on our status and social class which usually dictates what we can and can’t afford or whether our demands carry any weight of authority.
For better or for worse, Cypriot society is rather self-conscious, conservative with a split personality when it comes to strangers and taking risks.
Cypriots like to pride themselves on their hospitality and welcoming nature towards visitors but have an ingrained mistrust of outsiders who turn up at the dinner table with their big-picture views, multi-culturalism and ideas of inclusiveness.
These are concepts that are rarely found in the classroom, the workplace or the political arena, despite the European Union being a cultivator of such attitudes.
In a world where it is becoming more difficult to love thy neighbour, we have to start by trusting them, but frankly Cypriots suffer Trojan Horse syndrome (I’ve just invented this theory) as anyone bearing gifts is obviously trying to bring our house down.
And it always seems that outsiders are trying to get Greek and Turkish Cypriots to like each other, or at least not mistrust one another after a long history of self-harm (we did this to ourselves), plausible deniability and elaborate blame games.
It’s like the White Man has to come to some troublesome outpost of a lost civilisation to teach the restless natives how to behave in polite circles and to stop throwing spears at each other.
Cyprus didn’t join the EU because it believed in diversity and free trade, it was a purely political decision to get some leverage over Turkey’s expansionist threat. Which is most probably why a majority of Cypriots don’t trust Brussels or its tendency towards a federal Europe.
There is also a widely held view that the UN can’t be trusted because it’s always pulling the wool over our eyes while trying to sell us snake oil called ‘compromise’ before sticking a dastardly plan under the pillow.
Having said that, have you noticed that since the peace process became a Cypriot-led jamboree it sank faster than a rubber duck in a Tsunami with no sign of life for nearly two years.
In fact, Cypriot leaders have less in common now than when they crisscrossed the ceasefire line drinking coffee together to symbolise that friendship was back in the air like a dust storm of misguided enthusiasm.
Another endearing trait – when Cypriots start calling you ‘my friend’ you are in big trouble and less popular than a Russian pop song in Kiev.
It makes sense that one of the world’s most intractable political problems is Cyprus – home of the distrusting Cypriot where even the leaders cannot hide the fact the peace pipe ran out of puff a while ago.
You know the reunification train has left the station when Cypriot leaders meet, and all the UN can say afterwards is that they dusted down some previously agreed confidence building measures lost down the back of the sofa.
All is not lost, we can learn to trust each other again through sport – another idea that had to come from beyond these shores.
On March 19, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci will attend a historic bicommunal football friendly for only the second such match in 64 years (are you feeling the love from the terraces).
They couldn’t possibly have done this themselves but are quite happy to do feel-good PR and show what can be if Cyprus could trust itself to be a proper grown-up country despite the dysfunctional parents and painful family history.
An organisation called Peace and Sport is advocating football diplomacy for Cyprus in partnership with the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation with the support of the United Nations (they should know better).
Best of all, the event in Pyla will be attended by Chelsea legend Didier Drogba who has experience of pulling a country together but even a player of his ability would find it impossible to win in a team with no trust.
