Comparisons

There’s something curious going on.  In many parts of the world wars are being fought, there are actions against terrorists, at least two groups are disputing the same territory and the financial markets and banks are in a mess which governments are having to bail out.  

For most of us, while we may be anxious about jobs and income, life carries on as normal.  We have to go to work, eat, sleep, wash, do the laundry, shop for essentials and worry about whether it is ever going to be warm again. 

For most of us all these terrible things in other parts of the world, don’t on a day to day basis, impinge on our daily lives. 

Perhaps it is because humans are such frail creatures.  We don’t have the armory of a cat or the ability to hibernate out of difficulty.  The daily need for food when we get hungry, the exhaustion at the end of a busy day which demands sleep and the sheer simplicity of the needs of survival mean it is impossible to hold on to the enormity of the chaos of the world  at the moment. Some things are just too big to grasp in detail for most of us.  

While we may support peace talks, demonstrate in favor of someone taking positive action, need to see strong leadership; while we may be shocked when we see the news, there is the feeling that, as individuals, there is little we can do and we shut it out.  Our sense of helplessness allows us to watch TV and see unpleasant things.  The figures on the screen are not real. The events are far removed from our ordinary life. 

It’s nothing to do with being callous. It’s just that the urgency of breakfast and the need to perform our daily rituals, keeps us from being overwhelmed by events we cannot control or solve.  

Two things stand out. The cohesion of the world leaders who have mobilized the financial power at their disposal to avert the total collapse of the money world and sustain some confidence for the general public. The seriousness of the issues has demanded they put aside personal and national disagreements to do what is necessary.  It will be interesting for future historians, reading through minutes of meetings to see how they approached their jobs. 

The second is the individual leadership within countries which has talked up the events and dealt with them. For once, we seem to have elected some competent individuals.  While we might not agree with their all their politics, they have shown ability in solving problems, they have talked to their citizens about issues and are actually doing something.  Even the Americans have managed to elect a man who is intelligent and has a human understanding of the need to cooperate and deal with the issues which worry us at our level. 

Perhaps all is not lost and we can rise to the occasion.