Why Does It Take Crisis?

There are behaviors that should be part of our everyday, normal behavior patterns but they only seem to become widespread during times of crisis. Why is that? Why do we put those behaviors aside when the crisis passes? As of this writing, there have been 140,000 people who’ve tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, worldwide! So far, this flu season, 9.7 million people have contracted the flu in the US alone and there have been 4,800 deaths in the US attributed to the flu. Why do we so dramatically change our behaviors for this “crisis” when the danger of preventable, highly contagious disease is here anyway. We should be washing our hands, sanitizing, and staying home when we are sick anyway.

I see these behavior patterns in far more than just behaviors associated with our health. But, this virus outbreak gives an easy context for understanding the human psyche. By nature we want to blame others for our misery but, more often than not, our own behaviors are usually the cause of our own problems. Some will say we should all just use common sense but for most of my adult life I have been amazed by how frequently common sense is truly not so commonly applied. We rebel against science because we don’t like what it tells us. We’d rather believe our superstitions and old habitual ways than accept the truths provided by sound scientific examination.

I’d like to make a suggestion to the entire world population. Each and every one of you is precious but not one of you is more important than the next. When we use half the truth and sometimes even non-truths to marginalize any category of people, for any reason, we are saying; “I am more important than they are.” But, in the history of mankind, that is not true. Great truths have been generated from every race, nation, creed, religion, and class of people. Discovery is not dominated by any single group. Goodness is not the providence of any single group. Each and every one of us is precious but no one is better or more valuable than anyone else. Let’s all get over ourselves and start working together to make our world a better place!