Do Stop Believin'

I often know to write about something because I find myself fixating on some subject, angrily repeating words to myself over and over. I know I have to write about it partly, because it's best to choose subjects about which you care deeply and know well, but also because I have to break the cycle of thought that permits nothing else to happen in my mind except for that thing. This, I gather, is catharsis, and an excellent example of such writing is forthcoming.

If I asked you to characterize the trust level of people today, I would expect you to say that people are not trusting at all. They lock doors, decline hitchhikers and are generally cynical about people's motives for doing good, you will likely enough say. I have a different opinion. People may do those things, but I contend that they are maybe more credulous than ever. Certainly that is true of the press, and particularly so the sports media (if such a thing exists).

I happened to be reading an article about a player who had begun to display a hitting prowess unseen at any time in his career. Over and over, it was shown that his numbers took a dramatic leap about his established averages last season, and continued to remain high this year. Person after person was dumbfounded by this apparent turning of the corner, but naturally glad. The writer supported this line of thinking all the way, talking how how amazing it was and how you just never know. I wouldn't expect the player, his coaches or the front office to say otherwise. As a wise man said, it's about impossible to persuade someone of something their job depends on them not believing.

That writer, on the other hand? His job is to be skeptical, going so far as to get multiple sources confirming that any such player even exists. Instead, he and everyone else totally believe what I was instantly dubious about. After years of steroid stories, will no one contemplate for a second that there might be a very obvious explanation for the miraculous elevation of the man's long-established abilities? I could easily be wrong, but I would sooner make a retirement plan of betting the other way. People are surprisingly trusting these days.