Opinion Sur
In a crisis, not only each one’s temperament, resilience, capacity to overcome adversity, are put to the test, but also our values, gregarious spirit and solidarity with others. There is a majority who loses and a minority who wins; some react mean-spiritedly; others, with dignity. When the water lowers you can see who is who; where there is rock and where only mud. Reality is the way it is and should not intimidate us; we would rather see how to mobilize valuable intangible assets that are capable of generating a huge energy, among others, our capacity to take initiative, to organize new institutions, to generate synergies, to add efforts. Siren songs cause confusion and deviate the course toward consumerist alienation, value nihilism, substitute happiness. The price paid is huge.
In a crisis, not only each one’s temperament, resilience, capacity to overcome adversity, are put to the test, but also our values, gregarious spirit and solidarity with others. With the crisis, there is a majority who loses and a minority who wins because it can and knows how to take advantage of the circumstances that the very crisis generates. Among the ones who lose there prevail middle-income and poor sectors, even though not all suffer equally. Indigence, malnutrition, overcrowding and insecurity rise; networks of social protection, schooling, drop. There appear the “new poor”, middle-income sectors who slide toward scarcity. Large majorities feel ignored, punished by a society that is annoyed and frightened.
In the face of this, how do the sectors least affected by the crisis react?; some mean-spiritedly; others with dignity. There are those who profit from the crisis at the expense of other people’s pain; there are also those who only struggle for their own salvation, trampling whoever they need to trample in order to come out unhurt; others protect what is theirs, but also try to help those who have been most affected; even in the crisis they endeavor for fair development.
Those who profit from other people’s pain, unremorsefully take advantage of the weakness of others to appropriate their assets or obtain greater results. Pettiness is with them, and those who have been affected are mere preys. Helping is not in their nature; from their ethical perspective, why would they do it?
There are well-off individuals who, in times of bonanza, develop philanthropic actions, but when faced with a crisis they cut their contributions to social projects or just causes, which become their first adjustment variable. Thus they evidence the little value they attach to these causes, as well as the fragile loyalty they profess to them, which, in times of abundance, they bragged about supporting. What hurts is that, in spite of the crisis, their standard of living does not change drastically but only marginally; they adjust their expenses but their recreational activities, their travels, second residences, memberships, superfluous consumption, do not disappear.
The sectors worst affected by crises survive the storm as they possibly can; the circumstances of scarcity and abandonment harden. There are those who only see ways out in crime and addictions, but many others strengthen ties, reinforce solidarity in the face of uneasiness. Creativity sharpens, though on the basis of improvisation, of trial and error. Amidst the precariousness of resources, talent and determination emerge; yet, due to the lack of effective support systems, they have limited access to knowledge, to modern business engineering, to timely information, to empowering contacts. Though very worthy, achievements and results end up being meager.
In a crisis, the water lowers and you can see the bottom of the river; determine who is who; where there is rock and where only mud. It is touching to recognize in that hurricane of fears and selfishness, of confusion and acceleration, those who fight not only for themselves; people from different walks of life and experience who struggle for what is theirs and others’. They radiate dignity, mobilize hope; also showing the extent of the absurd and immense sterilization of efforts that our course and way of functioning bring about.
In the face of the crisis, maybe the most urgent and peremptory challenge consists in being able to stand tall above disagreements. Indeed, we need to take initiative by helping one another, work to achieve convergence, mobilize and share knowledge, adjust the course, organize action, improve the way of functioning. The fronts are diverse and hard to tackle if we are divided.
Reality is the way it is, and should not intimidate us; there is much to know and recognize. We confine to a pitiful secondary role valuable intangible assets ─such as our capacity to take initiative, to organize new institutions, to generate synergies, to add rather than withdraw efforts. It is from there that a tremendous, poorly-used, energy emanates. To deploy it, we need to reflect, come together in an organized manner, exercise our free will appropriately, staying away from paralyzing determinism as well as risky voluntarism.
Each society, each generation chooses paths and modalities to tackle what it considers obstacles to its development. There are times when the heap of problems seems immense and no ways out can be seen; the man in the street and even many leaders feel overwhelmed, unable to face their circumstances. Siren songs cause confusion and deviate the course toward consumerist alienation, value nihilism, substitute happiness. The price paid is huge.
Faced with this, there is no choice but to meet head-on the challenges, which are as many and diverse as the circumstances each individual, each social group, each country, the entire planet, are confronted with. It is in that diversity of perspectives we must act, enriching ourselves with what each one can contribute, having one eye on the course and the other one on a permanent improvement of our way of functioning. There is where we need to focus, working with or without a crisis; working to understand what happens; working to establish a directionality; working to align interests, needs and emotions; working to mobilize wills; working to organize action with efficacy. With that effort, with that critical work that is both collective and individual, we can aspire to come closer to one of the most heartfelt contemporary utopias: ensuring sustainability, peace and justice for our development as a society and a higher sense of purpose to our personal existential development.
