The Greatest Trust

佚名/Anonymous

昨晚我从哈里斯堡驱车前往宾夕法尼亚州的刘易斯堡，全程约80英里。天很晚了，我迟到了，若有人问我车速如何，我得求助于美国宪法的第五条修正案。很多次，我都被一辆缓慢行驶的卡车挡住了前行的路——路面很窄，而我的左侧是不可逾越的白线。于是，我急躁起来，不由得捏紧了拳头。

开到一个有交通灯的十字路口时，路上只剩我一个人了。就在我快到路口时，交通灯变红了，我只好紧急刹车。我左顾右盼，又望了望后方。没看到其他车子，没有丝毫动静，也没有前灯的光影。可我仍旧静静地坐在那里，等红灯变绿，方圆一英里仅我一人。

我不禁为自己不闯红灯而诧异。我不必担心被抓，显然，附近并无警察，闯红灯不会有任何危险。

那天晚上，我见到了刘易斯堡的一些朋友，午夜我才得以上床休息。我辗转反侧：为什么我会停下车子，而不闯红灯？我想，我之所以停下来，是因为彼此间的契约。那不仅是法律，而且也是我们应共同遵守的协议：我们不可以闯红灯。与大多数人一样，我要尽量控制自己，不违背社会行为准则，这不只是因为有法律的约束。

令我吃惊的是，对做正确的事，我们向来彼此信任，不是吗？我们也的确如此。信任是我们的第一本能。一定要在深思熟虑后，再对别人不信任或怀疑，因为那样的态度不是我们的本能反应。

Last night I was driving from Harrisburg to Lewisburg， a distance of about eighty miles. It was late. I was late and if anyone asked me how fast I was driving， I'd have to plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination. Several times I got stuck behind a slow-moving truck on a narrow road with a solid white line on my left， and I was clinching my fists with impatience.

At one point along an open highway， I came to a crossroads with a traffic light， I was alone on the road by now， but as I approached the light， it turned red and I braked to a halt. I looked left， right and behind me. Nothing. Not a ear， no suggestion of headlights， but there I sat， waiting for the light to change， the only human being for at least a mile in any direction.

I started wondering why I refused to run the light. I was not afraid of being arrested， because there was obviously no cop around， and there certainly would have been no danger in going through it.

Much later that night， after I'd met with a group in Lewisburg and had climbed into bed near midnight， the question of why I'd stopped for that light came back to me. I think I stopped because it's part of a contract we all have with each other. It's not only the law， but it's an arrangement we have， and we trust each other to honor it： we don't go through red lights. Like most of us， I'm more apt to be restrained from doing something bad by the social convention that disapproves of it than by any law against it.

It's amazing that we ever trust each other to do the right thing， isn't it？ And we do， too. Trust is our first inclination. We have to make a deliberate decision to mistrust someone or to be suspicious or skeptical. Those attitudes don't come naturally to us.