By Ted Khan R Juanite
An economic crisis usually brings along with it a number of unwanted events and components. First, is that the persons directly affected by the crisis tend to become “exclusive.” They try to shy away from other people for fear that others might make them the victims of others’ unscrupulous moves. This is based on the assumption that most people are basically more bad than good and, therefore, most people cannot be trusted at all times.
Second, people develop all sorts of anxieties, as a result of over-anticipating the effects of an economic crisis like what is happening today. Fear is the basis of anxiety. You worry because you think something bad will happen to you and your family even if nothing bad is happening at the moment, and even if you are living as a healthy individual.
Third, is that as a result of worrying daily, the person develops some form of physical illness—whether real or imagined—and believes that the crisis has weakened his or her body and that he or she is also facing an internal crisis within, even if there was no original illness present in the first place.
Fourth, and this is the most common, is that most people think (and feel) that in order to survive, one must at all times be on guard by minimizing the giving of help and maximizing the getting or acquisition of material goods and possessions. There is a strong tendency to become a miser, and institutionalize selfishness to the point of becoming abnormally unrealistic in one’s dealings with people.
Live and Let Go
Saving money is good, but one must save in order to live fully, not to become engulfed in one’s fears that tomorrow everything will be lost, and therefore, one must not spend at all. I just read a news report about the deteriorating social, political, and economic conditions in Zimbabwe. The article’s title, as published in the MSNBC website is “Hungry in Zimbabwe: ‘If you rest, you starve.’” There is a picture of a young girl scavenging for food in a so-called rubbish dumpsite. The food crisis has become a food catastrophe.
Zimbabwe is an example of a worst case scenario that happened as a result of the cumulative effects of years of violence and fears. Such a situation can happen to a person, a family, a community, and a nation. It is based on the belief that everything is scarce in this world and there is no hope in finding a solution to anything whether it is a financial crisis, a food problem, or even the supply of medicines. While this is not an uncommon situation today, it is just one part of the spectrum of actualities and possibilities that is happening in our universe. We try to focus on what is happening right before our very eyes and forget that there are also other possible, real and or actual events that are opposite to what we are experiencing.
So the first thing that one must do is to live and let go. Relax, no matter what. The apparently worse things that are happening are not that permanent as we think (and fear) they are. Was it Einstein who said “Imagination is more important than knowledge”? Why not imagine something better and give your self a chance. By trying to veer away from the asphyxiating and debilitating situation, one may find some alternative solutions to the crisis. The lesson is that one must not get caught in one’s trap which is fear.
Existentially, though, the child in the picture scavenging for food does not seem to have a problem. She was just being rational and she was faced with one of the many options—one of which is to find food in a rubbish dumpsite. She could have also begged, she could have worked, but would the child know that relief organizations are on the way to provide food for them, and that in a few days, they would be getting a supply of clean and nutritious food and water? Would the child know that the United Nations is deliberating the political problem in Zimbabwe and trying to find a fast solution to the crisis?
Be Everyone’s Friend
As a result of a tendency to limit one’s exposure to other people for fear of being scammed, robbed, threatened, etc., a person in an economic crisis also limits himself or herself to seek other alternative sources of ideas, funds, food and other types of resource—and most of all inspiration—that can only come from people. I have met a lot of people who just gave their best during a time of crisis.
Friendship, especially in a crisis situation has its own limits and risks. But an individual with a natural friendliness would most likely survive better in a crisis environment than one who would always block the pathways to friendship, or than someone who is too aggressive and rough on others. Being friendly is a natural thing to do. Young people are naturally friendly, but it is the environment—like that in Zimbabwe—that prevents them from expressing their full friendly potential. Being isolationist prevents one’s natural tendency to communicate with others, and in the long run could implode and lead to violent reactions. Friendship creates doors that once were not there, and opens up doors that were once closed by biases and prejudices.
However, one must discern the friendship that is motivated by a desire to communicate and find common solutions, as well as seek or share resources for the common good; and the friendship designed to manipulate the person and situation for “dog-eat-dog” type of existence. Overall, it is always a good personal policy to examine carefully oneself, the situation and others before becoming everyone’s friend.
