The Problem of Inaction
9 Feb
Dogma Inaction Figure 4 by preynold
I. Plenty of us only do what we need to do after being told to do so. Plenty of us act however we want and delay our obligations in favor of personal pleasure. We are slow to prevent mistakes but are quick to apologize to justify our actions.
Plenty of the small people are angry at the big people, the economists and the politicians, for being corrupt and acting not in favor of the greater good but for their own personal interest. Most of the big people themselves act as if they care, but the policies they create don’t show their integrity. They are sorry only because they are caught.
And yet, if the small people were given the chance, they would do the same also. They admire their ego, and they pursue individual satisfaction. They too are sorry only because they get apprehended.
II. The problem with inaction is fundamental to understanding why corruption is embedded in our society. Inaction is postponing to the latest possible moment, the action that needs to be done in order to solve the problem that’s threatening us right now. We postpone because the work is hard and difficult and doesn’t carry as much reward as other, selfish pursuits.
The problem with the problem is that it might not directly affect us. A dam that broke on the outskirts of town, hitting the community that survives on less than $1 a day, won’t register on a physical level with the politicians who have the influence to correct the problem long before the dam gave way. And still after it broke, the best we can do is apologize, show our sympathy, and take advantage of the situation to position ourselves in favored eye of the small people.
The problem with apologizing is that it mostly doesn’t change a thing. It only serves to make the one who made a mistake feel better, and maybe also for the victim, but in physical terms it has no concrete benefit for anybody. Worse, having the room to apologize will make us be lax in being strict with ourselves and think “We can always apologize after.”
III. The young people who care about how society is hurt, grow up to be the ones who hurt society in continue. The money beats their idealism, and the ones who keep fighting are marginalized and isolated from the circle of influence. The circle of death continues.
We need to take action, but we also need to take the right action. Learning from our mistakes is crucial to prevent further mistakes, and yet we always rewind the same sabotage again and again. We cry out foul play when the perpetrator was in fact nobody else but us.
Even good action may not be enough. Be careful with what you think is true, because it may not be real as long as it’s still tie to your personal interest. The real right action tends to be the one that has the least benefits personally for you.
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[1] Photograph by preynolds.
Another astute observation Endy. The last sentence is the issue in a nutshell. Personally I like to think that most people would do more (myself included)if they felt they could actually make a difference. These days the problems sometimes seem insurmountable and if the ‘elected big people’ can’t sort things out, what chance do us ‘little people’ stand?
The world is a complicated place with an incomprehensibly vast array of issues to address. Throw in a little conflict of interest between countries and individuals and you’ve got…….difficulties
I think that’s why people get stuck into the money over idealism thing. Over here there’s an old saying about how you grow up supporting Labour but as you grow up you end up voting Conservative. It’s a massive and misguided oversimplification of our political system. However, at its heart is the idea that when you’re young, you’re full of ‘piss & vinegar’, idealistic and hopeful, you want to change the world and everything else. Then as you get older you figure out how much that costs and your own place in the grand scheme of things…….grain of sand on a beach anyone?
In the end, it’s just too hard for a lot of people and they go for finding their own happiness above all else on the basis our time here is short. I can certainly empathise with that.
Meanwhile, people die, same as they always did, unnecessarily.
All that doom and gloom apart, I think there will come a time when everyone is so overloaded with instant gratification for themselves and dissatisfaction with the conduct of the ‘big people’ that they’ll start to look at the big questions. If enough people took a look outside and thought, “Is this it?” maybe our species could make some progress.
Hi Inky,
I’d rather say the world is simple than complicated, because saying it’s complicated tends to put me in a mood that makes me want to not tackle the issues we face as humans. Of course there are relationships between matters more than we can observe with the naked eye, but I have firm believe that principles stay the same: to solve the problem, we need to focus on the principles instead of the surface.
Growing and giving up idealism is a universal event. Over here it happens the same way, in fact some of the political leaders who have been indicted with corruption were political activists when they were still students! The point I make is how hypocritical all this is: if you’re going to give up your idealism then admit it – don’t be the one who’s only standing on the sidelines but act like you’re part of the fight.
I can empathize also with finding our own happiness on the basis of short time (I like that sentence!). But I think achieving happiness only for yourself can’t truly be reached if we still live in a society where corruption is rampant, and the small people get tread on by the big people. The ugly sight will always surround us even if we become millionaires.
Interestingly, the time you talk about when people will look at the big questions may already arrived here in Indonesia. There is a corruption scandal that’s being heavily reported on the news, and it implicates most if not all of the important political figures – including the President himself! Even the Vice President and former Vice President have been called to testify in front of the jury. Many people are disappointed that the supremacy of law has only been pillow talk all this time.
Meet the new regime, same as the old regime.
(Hmm, why is this blog getting political ya? There’s no intention of it being that).
Cheers,
What a great resource!