The Bright Side

The Bright Side of Social Catastrophe

1. When there are nature catastrophes such as earthquakes, droughts, snow or mud slides, hurricanes or volcanoes eruptions; destruction and damage is very apparent. We know this and are increasingly sensible to human loss. We strive to alleviate hunger, cold climate for people without shelter and poverty. Lives are lost, people get hurt and many  are shocked and get ill; roads are damaged, houses and buildings collapse and so forth. It seems hell on Earth.  The media pick out these tragedies and broadcast them and they are easily reported. These desperate images, being broadcasted  through the media, perhaps  mobilize both fear and hope. However, it also simple for people who watch them to turn negative, pessimist even depressed.  Most human activities are either neutral or fulfilling. Although most human activities are rewarding, and occur by the millions each day, usually, they are underrepresented and go unreported in the media. Good news usually doesn’t sell fast.

2. When wars break out, the same thing seems to happen. The negative upheaval is also apparent and it is overrepresented in the media. What seems to be lost in the “bright side” in an immense tragedy that confronts us. So in these cases, the media also pick up what is evident: hatred, destruction, the bad side of human nature. But not all is evil, even in the most depressive and negative circumstances many years after any war; technological advances and innovation are apparent: the airplanes made possible commercial flights on a world scale after WW II. The microwaves oven and "velkro" (A Swiss invetion used by NASA for space flights), there are others like digital computers that were an offshoot of the “cold war” --that lasted 40 some years-- in the “space race” and the “terror equilibrium” of nuclear warheads that lead to the “détente” and the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) talks of former Soviet Union and USA when they were on a military buildup. We all know a nuclear war was averted; perhaps miraculously. Tibetan monks and masters helped giving sacred teachings and empowerments such as the Kalachackra (The Wheel of Time)  for world peace, many time in Western Europe and the USA:

3. Although the media business is reporting, some filtering seem possible and likely—not censorship—but selection and filtering. Some years ago, a US news weekly magazine, reported that some soldiers in Iraq had thrown the “Koran” into the W.C. the next day there were riots in several cities whose population are Muslims and a US Embassy was attacked. Probably in reporting this event, the intention was not to offend the Muslims, but it did. Same thing happened in other occasions. So the power of the media to uplift or offend or shock people is enormous. It is beyond making money or keep people informed.

4. So we all need and deserve a more positive and balanced view and reporting when tragedies happen. Not necessarily denied the horrendous destruction, but gibing hope, strengthening social ties. This is done rather sparsely and few and far between.

5. There are many theories and opinions of why people do harm to each other: bad karma, original sin, stupidity, ethnocentric attitudes, racial hatred, and lack of awareness. But as many negative causes or explanation exist; there seems to be very few explanations of why we need things to be right. Yet they all agree on one: we need  each other, we love our loved ones, we appreciate our properties, and we love or kin, clan, our nation, our country, our communities, our country or religion. We can stand up with dignity together.

6. As the Chilean  executive coach  and entrepreneur Fernando Flores has said:

“We live in an extraordinary time. Our thinking styles are severing us from our families, our religions, our ideologies, and nature. We are caught up in a pace of social and technological change that makes our work, business, and education sources of anxiety and unfulfillment. At the same time, thinking about our thinking and observing our observations can bring us a new world in which work becomes a place for innovation, and in which peace, wisdom, friendship, companionship, and community can exist. Let us design this world together.”

(Private message)

7. We will attempt to not be naïve and to look for the bright side only of human tragedy but also to be witness in the last decades and some lessons of human mankind. Some of these are:

8. Solidarity develops.  Many countries and communities help each other, send food, clothes, medicines, hospitals; alleviating in part the material suffering Business and companies extend easy credits, are more flexible some even condone debts. When we are hit by nature or social catastrophe we need to go to the basic: we need love, forgiveness and understanding. Not only money to eat, and clothes to cover us or a shelter to spend the night, we all need a good warm hug. We might seem more like frightened children who need protection.

9. People open up and communicate People embrace each other, light candles at night, do silent marches, hug each other. Neighbors who hardly know each other speak openly and exchanges good intentions. People in supermarkets, gas stations, the mall, the bank who don’t know each other slow down; they stop and listen, and extend a warm conversation. This is very unusual in big cities (over half a million people).   It is almost a miracle; so many of us are hard pressed to achieve, to bay, to pay, to get somewhere. So in many ways this is a blessing. When New York City has a power blackout some years ago, subways and trains and elevators stopped. People cared for each other. Since it occurred during the summer, some slept in the streets. Some others help connect the transit in the streets since traffic light were dead. So this might be called a collective miracle of brotherhood. The good examples are many in recent times of crisis, the world over. As the cultural historian Thomas Berry has said. “·The Universe is a communion of subjects not a collection of objects.”

10. New technologies are developed and sold: clean and green  energies  are advanced and develop, eliciting a rapid transformation of energy industries, and building standards.

11. Reformed and new institutions: Every informed person acknowledges that most institutions are heavily stretched to their limits by mass consumption and need of mass participation and decision making. Most institutions were designed some centuries ago (2 or 3) to serve but a few thousands of people. Now we have to care form millions in shorter and shorter times. So institutions are taxed. Justice, utilities, business, infrastructure. Even the economy and the political system are rather at odds to serve millions of users, citizens in the right place at the right time. New local and regional institutions or Proto-institutions are devolving. NGO, local action groups, local radios, websites for local service, even local money currencies are fast developing. Nevertheless there is hope. Much more economic sustainable development is fostered . International standards for human safety and labor balance are developed on a world scale: The ISO norms.

Gustavo Jimenez Lagos

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