“BY REASON OR BY MIGHT” OR “BY THE MIGHT OF REASON”?

¿(POR LA “RAZON O LA FUERZA” o “LA FUERZA DE LA RAZON”?

I am not sure what specific recent national or international conflict led me to reflect on the“slogan” on Chile’s national Coat of Arms – “By Reason or By Right”.

If this is supposed to be one of the guiding principles of our democracy, what hope is there for “Win-Win” solutions and the Culture of Trust which, according to so many scholars, is the keystone to peace, effectiveness and high performance?

Confucious: “Good government needs weapons, food and trust. If the ruler cannot hold onto all three, he should give up the weapons first and food next. Trust should be guarded to the end, because “without trust, we cannot stand”

Einstein: “Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police.”

Pope John XXIII : “The true and solid peace of nations consist not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone.”

Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat) : “Without trust, there is no open society, because there are not enough police to patrol every opening in an open society. Without trust, there can also be no flat world, because it is trust that allows us to take down walls remove barriers, and eliminate friction at borders. Trust is essential for a flat world.”

Extracted from “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen M.R. Covey

I therefore turned to “trusty” Wikipedia to understand the origins of the slogan and was both surprised and delighted to be reminded that Ricardo Lagos (the man with the mighty finger) had started the very same debate and proposed a new less bellicose version “Por la Fuerza de la Razón” (By the Might of Reason) which was presented to Congress as a Bill in 2004 by Nelson Avila and is still biding its time.

As I started a serendiptous jaunt through Google, to learn more, I quickly realized, that the very mention of this subject could be open to a misinterpretation of my motives so I would like to make it clear that I have no political stance on this subject, just a healthy curiosity in hearing what readers of this blog think.

My aim is to relaunch and transform my blog from a sharing of stuff that the author has experienced to a light-hearted forum where readers can share their thoughts and experiences related to trust.