Complacency

Complacency may well be the attitude that sends civilization into a nosedive. Haiti, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and now places in Europe are feeling the full weight of the food crisis. With every ethanol hound turning vast portions of farmland into corn fuel for the auto industry, people are feeling the pinch at the register. When the stomach is deprived, the senses turn livid and the mind leans into rage. Food is a basic necessity of life, and without it, we revert to acting like animals. There has been a plethora of recent riots in the streets over the price of corn and rice. Can you blame people for being mad when the leaders of government spend billions a month on war and defense and cannot even feed the people they are supposed to be serving? As the economy tanks more and more, will we actually do anything about it? Or will we complacently suffer the loss of savings and retirement so hard won? It is an election year and it is easy to blame a political party. It is easy to blame an actual government leader. But many people stood by and refused to care enough to vote. A majority was not even informed about the issues at stake. Complacency is the precursor of calamity. That has been repeated so many times in history and is still not motivating people to change how they vote, how they think or act.

The catastrophe I see is jaded hearts and minds and then less and less autonomy for citizens of various countries. As people are more and more constrained by dire necessities and trying circumstances, opportunists and hateful, violent individuals will take advantage and make big trouble for others. As Carl Jung said, “When people think like a crowd, and not like an individual, they get less intelligent.” That’s not an exact quote, but it is close. For most people, violence is a definite possibility.