Survival of the humblest
January 28, 2010 12:11 PM
One key characteristic of our everyday world is that it is so fragile, and yet fails to realize its own fragility.
I get it, I’m a little late writing on the issue. The earthquake happened over two weeks ago by the time this will hit print, and for most people, the only association that this disaster will still have in to their lives will be attending a series of fundraisers in support of the people of Haiti. I get that.
However, that only makes my point all the more convincing, when I ask what it would be like to still be without your home or any sense of normalcy to your life after 2 weeks; to imagine how you would be doing if it was you and your community who was not disaster day plus 16 days.
How would you be getting along, and what would keep you on track as you attempted to adjust to the ongoing chaos.
Seriously though, most people who take off camping for the weekend, return after two and a half days absolutely exhausted and wanting nothing more than a hot shower and warm bed. Even lasting out a week of intense backwoods camping will only get you so close to understanding what it would be like, because you have the time before you leave to plan out what you will bring with you.
Now I am well aware that living in Canada leaves you with betters odds of never experiencing many natural disasters. However, it seems that too often people are simply relying on a past of relative calm to brush off any thoughts of disaster in these parts of the world. I believe it remains important to keep some level of familiarity with survival basics at least in order to have the confidence to respond positively when things go awry.
Believe me, I am not advocating for students to hone their hunting skills stalking game through the brush of Antigonish decked out in HAZMAT survival suits; we can leave the job of overreacting to the conspiracy theorists in their deep-woods hideaways.
It seems to me though that if you’re idea of a disaster is a loss of WiFi in your apartment, or locking yourself out of your car and walking the five minutes to campus, then you have no idea just how fragile your lifestyle really is. In order to be reasonably secure in your surroundings it is important to understand just more than just the face value of the things we interact on a daily basis, and to be able to troubleshoot them if something goes wrong.
Basic understandings of daily things is important in times when everything is running smoothly so that when things are not working correctly, or when some kind of disaster presents itself, you are able to think logically about how to manage your life in new circumstances.
Without the humility that comes with attempting to understand the behind-the-scenes workings of our everyday lives, it is impossible to appreciate just how rocked our world would really be if we were to experience a tragedy even half as bad as that which has struck the people of Haiti.
Just imagine, as you attempt for the fourth time to reconnect to the internet, what it would be like to be spending your 16th day without any basic infrastructure, let alone the conveniences that slip past us unnoticed such as the internet or refrigerators. To understand that, would be to be truly humbled in the face of our modern life.
