Living means trust

This article is published in Vanity Fair issue 28-29 on newsstands until July 20, 2021
Since the coronavirus invaded our lives 17 months ago, we have embarked on an emotional journey that has taken us, through isolation and despair, anger and pain. Now, as we prepare for a full reopening, we face another emotional hurdle: our willingness to trust others. Trust is probably the most important ingredient in a company.

It is what allows us to engage in all kinds of social, economic and cultural interactions we have in the world.

The chances of contracting Covid-19 will not soon be zero, even for vaccinated people. So, to go back to work in person, send our children to school and ditch our masks, we must rely on the willingness to make ourselves vulnerable in risky situations. Trust that vaccines are safe and work. Trust that the people we interact with are vaccinated or protected in other ways. Trust that when government leaders say it’s safe to remove our masks or shop in crowded stores, they’re motivated by science, not politics. “Trust will certainly influence the effectiveness with which we will manage the post-Covid recovery process”, said Mario Draghi.

Unfortunately, the willingness of Italians to trust each other was already in decline before the start of the pandemic. Now, it is sinking: it has happened that, despite the obligation to wear masks outdoors, there are not a few people who continue to wear them, even if they have been vaccinated, even if only to walk the dog. “It’s not entirely sure the vaccine will last forever, there are too many variations, I don’t want to infect anyone else. I will wear it until I am sure that the pandemic has been overcome, “say the” masked “diehards. Perhaps the conflicting messages of tele-virologists, perhaps the statements of politicians based on fear have further eroded the trust that Italians have in each other. There is to understand them. After a year of being told that any exposure to other people poses a serious risk of ending up in the other world, the vaccine communication brothel has arrived and, hey !, “no-vax” came out of every drain: “With vaccines they implant you a chip”, “Covid was caused by 5G cell phone technology and the vaccine reinforces it”, “The vaccine makes you gay”, “The vaccine turns into werewolves who then attack other human beings to tear them apart », To the most comical:« AstraZeneca transforms into a chimpanzee ». Since trust cannot be restored by force or by law, getting people to trust each other again will be a difficult and time-consuming challenge.

To subscribe to Vanity Fair, click here.