Disasters, such as those that happened recently in China and Myanmar, cause an immediate change in how those affected live their lives. In these two cases, the effects were far-ranging and directly touched millions. Some disasters – and there are millions of them a day, I suppose – are on a much smaller scale. A traffic accident that kills a family member or house fire that claims an entire family’s possessions are examples.
Above all else, disasters place their survivors in a state of absolute uncertainty, stripping away any illusions we may have of stability and permanence.
A profound disaster occurred in the US on September 11, 2001. The primary effect of that disaster was great human and material loss and destruction that directly touched many people. Tremendous as that was, though, the secondary damage done to our national psyche was much greater in it’s own way. It was as an attack from outside for which we were ill prepared. We were shocked, stunned, and angry for a long time. We were faced with the fact that we are exposed and vulnerable. But there was – and continues to be – a tertiary effect of 9/11. It began when unscrupulous politicians exploited the event, playing on the fears and insecurity of the nation to further an agenda that had been in the making for years. Out of a need for certainty and security, we allowed these people to wreak havoc around the world and within the homeland.
The primary damage of September 11 was immediate. We knew exactly what hit us and when, just as they knew in China and Myanmar. The tertiary damage, however, is slow and inexorable, and it’s source and design is not so clear as unstable weather or shifting tectonic plates. Most of us have no real idea of the inner workings of world politics and economics. Yet what is happening politically and economically around the world – especially when it comes to crude oil these days – has the potential for disaster.
I don’t know if it’s possible for those smarter and more informed than I to draw a direct line from our collective reaction to an event that happened nearly seven years ago and to the price I pay for a gallon of gas today. And it really doesn’t matter.
But it does seem to me that the price of fuel will sooner than later begin to have an effect on how I and most of the rest of us live our lives. I am considering giving up one of my several jobs – teaching a class, specifically – because of the distance I must drive to get there. It simply is not cost effective. That is just one small thing, an example of making necessary adjustments in my life and lifestyle to accommodate significant changes in the way things are.
I can’t help but wonder how long before gasoline is $5, $8, $10 per gallon. What will we do? What will I do? What changes will I and my family have to make? What will happen when the average citizen cannot afford to go to work? I haven’t noticed that wages are rising along with the price of gas. I have noticed that profits for Chevron and Exxon/Mobile continue to rise along with the price of crude oil.
Much of the blame for the high price of fuel is being placed on demand from India and China. I wonder how much of that is true. People the world over have always been lied to and mislead by their governments (or whoever holds real power). We hapless citizens of the USA are no exception. Remember how Enron manipulated the price and flow of electricity – and destroyed many lives in the process? Once again, the why of it doesn’t matter. There is no real stability to anything, no matter how much we want to believe it.
What matters is something is happening. Something big and life-changing. The question on my mind is how I will respond to it.
4 Comments
Paul,
Sadly, I think, the problem partly lies as a consequence of our American celebration of our supposed ‘win’ in the Cold War; defeating the political/economic philosophy of our nemesis, the Soviet Union; and leaving new forms of capitalism to the USA and emerging economies like China and India to flourish.
Perhaps the deeper issue is our willingness as Americans to allow and watch capitalist institutions (particularly those outside the long-held understanding of market ‘supply and demand’ as defined by thinkers like Adam Smith) evolve into global conglomerates; businesses insulated from the laws of individual nations and focused on the uncontrolled goal of unlimited control of their markets and the establishment of cartels and monopolies.
The effect, I think, on our national, and the global society’s, psyche, in general, then, is that we have consciously (and unconsciously) accepted the notion that the on-going nature of these concerns and their ‘profit’ (as defined by these new multi-nationals) is ‘the’ guiding force for our lives; superceding seemingly ‘conflicting’ personal choices; which, are often just the ‘right’ thing to do.
You can see this in our unwillingness to honestly consider and discuss the difference between issues of an individual’s right to ‘healthcare’ vs. ‘health coverage’…the discussion/decision most often blurred and reverting to issues of cost rather than common decency…
I hope you can find a way to justify continuing to share your expertise through the class you teach; that’s where the real importance lies…in spite of the monies you’ll need to pay to the oil ‘pirates’; and because, it’s the ‘right’ thing to do…
John
Thanks for your thoughtful response, John. As you say, profit is king. Because of this, the corporate citizen is the citizen that matters.
But the point of my post had more to do with response to disaster, not the cause of it. The high cost of travel, for many, will have a tremendous effect on the average person. How will I, and the rest of us, adjust?
PaulG
Disasters (including exorbitant fuel prices) are opportunities for the realization of true awareness.
Couldn’t it be argued that the effect of a disaster is the result of cause (karmic principles?)…
Few of us are ‘extraordinary’; we are almost all ‘average’ persons; and we will experience natural disasters (including the effect of rising fuel prices); perceived as ‘bumps’ and obstacles in the road of our desire for the foolish pursuit of orderliness in our lives.
In spite of this, we can be determined and still try to do the ‘right’ thing…
John
Yes, it’s always best to strive to do the right thing. Sometimes it’s not easy to know just what that is.
As for disasters being the result of karmic principles: Strictly speaking, the law of cause and effect applies to all events. But in the Buddhist sense, karma refers to actions with intention. Only beings can produce karma.
PaulG