Our Ability to Communicate

Pro Jonathan Saxs explains in 2011 on a piece called Keeping Our Word that what makes humans unique isn't the fact that we use language, but what's unique to humans, he says, is that we use language to bind our own future behavior so that we can form with other human beings bonds of mutuality and trust. When trust breaks down, when relationships breaks down, then a society has nothing left but law, order. And we've seen that recently on college campuses where people can't talk to each other, where there's no conversation. There's no ability to say, "I'll have the humility. I'll have the curiosity to be open and think about and hear what the other has to say." And that is what is so scary about what's going on right now is that we have lost trust. And when we lose trust, we lose society, says Rabbi Saxs. A free society depends on trust. We must always do what we say we are going to do. If we fail to keep our word, eventually we will lose our freedom. [Music]