LIFE’S LESSONS
By Henrylito D. Tacio
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” – Ernest Hemingway
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If you are going to the American Embassy for an interview, don’t bring any gadgets with you. Leave them at home or at the hotel where you are staying. It is specifically stated that those gadgets are not allowed inside the embassy.
The banning of electronic gadgets inside the US Embassy, I was told, started in 2007 yet because the embassy feared those gadgets could be used as “bombs.” Another reason was due to the death threats some US officials received.
Recently, a friend went for an interview at the US Embassy. She was not informed that bringing those gadgets are not allowed, although I presumed she failed to read the application form where the directive was specified.
In her social media account, she posted a lengthy discussion on the availability of lockers for non-Americans. “My sister and I went to the American Embassy today, and we were told on the spot that gadgets like cellphones, USBs, power banks, earphones and calculators were not allowed inside,” she wrote. “I asked if there were lockers where we cut put our belongings in. The embassy guard said there were lockers, but they were only for US citizens.
“That is quite odd,” she went on. “In Hong Kong, there are lockers for everyone to use, according to a trusted source.”
She had really no idea. She had two alternatives: either leave all those gadgets in her car or leave them with the ladies carrying big bags outside the embassy. But then, leaving them in the car “is quite unsafe.”
As for those ladies, they charge with corresponding amount. “Those ladies carry your gadgets for safekeeping while you are inside the embassy – for a fee. The fees range from P100 (per USB, power bank and calculator) to P200 (per phone),” she wrote. “Very pricey and it is unreceipted.”
She talked with the ladies, whom she found as “quite friendly, helpful and accommodating.” She also had a conversation with the two guards manning the embassy outside. She asked about lockers but both didn’t answer the question. She was told to do something about her gadgets because it was not the concern of the embassy. Or “you can leave your gadgets with the safekeeping ladies who have been operating here for a very long time.”
In the end, she and her sister left their gadgets at one of the ladies and paid P1,000. But still, she was not happy with it. “But I cannot help but think about the lack of lockers for locals and Filipino citizens in the US Embassy,” she pointed out.
Reading between lines, I assumed the issue here is trust. She seemed not to trust the safekeeping ladies. In her conversation with the guards, she told them: “What if our gadgets get lost?”
Despite the fact she found the ladies “friendly and helpful.” She still didn’t trust them enough. She also didn’t want to leave her gadgets at her car because it was not safe. Again, she didn’t trust Filipinos; she believed someone would steal their gadgets when they are left at the car.
I didn’t ask her though why she won’t leave her gadgets to the safekeeping ladies but I can sense that she won’t trust them. If she can’t trust her fellow Filipinos who are strangers, how can the US Embassy trust her, too, being a Filipino?
I don’t want to degrade Filipinos here but I think we have to trust everyone if we want foreigners to trust us also. It takes time to trust everyone but we have to start somewhere. Trust me, it is never easy.
But at the end of her lamentation, she gave a very thought-provoking suggestion: “If we pursue the alternative (leave our gadgets with safekeeping ladies), I would like to recommend that the embassy should issue them ID’s that they’re authorized to keep embassy goers’ gadgets. In the long run, this will help the embassy and the ‘safekeeping’ ladies’ operations.”
Trust is one of the 15 things money can’t buy, according to Roy T. Bennett, author of The Light in the Heart. The other 14 are time, happiness, inner peace, integrity, love, character, manners, health, respect, morals, patience, class, common sense and dignity.
“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable,” American TV personality Fred Rogers once said. “When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.”
A fragile thing is trust. It’s easy to break, easy to lose and one of the hardest things to ever get back. Oscar nominated singer Lady Gaga made mention of trust that once it is broken, it stays forever. “Trust is like a mirror,” she said. “You can fix it if it’s broken, but you can still see the crack in that mother fucker’s reflection.”
This brings us to a conversation between Frodo and Sam in J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Fellowship of the Ring. It goes this way: “But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,” said Frodo. Sam looked at him unhappily. “It all depends on what you want. You can trust us to stick you through thick and thin – to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours – closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word.”
Do not trust just anyone. American actress and comedian Shelley Long pointed this out: “Not everyone can be trusted. I think we all have to be very selective about the people we trust.” As English author Sophie Kinsella puts it: “In the end, you have to choose whether or not to trust someone.”
Who are the people you can trust? An unknown author shared this thought: “Only trust someone who can see these three things in you: The sorrow behind your smile, the love behind your anger, and the reason behind your silence.”
Now, this reminds me of the words of American singer Selena Gomez: “If you have three people in your life that you can trust, you can consider yourself the luckiest person in the whole world.”
To end, allow me to share this statement from an unknown author: “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.”
Remember that! – ###
