Security
“Security
is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the
children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer
in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring
adventure, or it is nothing.”
Helen
Keller
Lately, I've been
thinking a lot about the whole concept of security. After the two
political conventions in this country, where security was front and
center, it's hard not to be aware of all the things we do in our
attempt to feel secure. I have some acquaintances who maintain a
compound out in the country that is stocked with an arsenal and
enough canned provisions to feed several people for a couple of
years. These folks were the first to sign up for concealed carry and
have taught themselves how to shoot both their guns and crossbows.
They have backpacks standing at ready, packed and provisioned, and a map of the escape route that will get them to their compound using
only back roads. I listen to these otherwise highly intelligent
people talk about the apocalypse as though its date is marked on
their calendar. I literally cannot imagine living everyday with that
much fear.
Then, there are the
persons who try to stop time at a place and stage where they felt
most secure. They talk of the “good old days” when men were men
and women knew their place. They dream of holding on to power and
privilege as though it is their God given right. In the words of
Jiddu Krishnamuti, great Indian-American writer and teacher,
“Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is
in decay.”
The only security we have
now, or will ever have, does not come from external structures, it
does not come from guns or fortified compounds, or walls. It comes
only from being comfortable in our own skin. It comes from having a
free spirit that is not bound by stolid, and unyielding tradition. It
comes from an understanding that there is balance in the cosmos, and
when things are out of balance, the cosmos will self-correct. Some of
us may not appreciate the ways that our cultures and societies go
about self-correction, but our comfort is not the issue.
I heard on NPR yesterday
about a particular type of fresh water snail that carries a parasitic
disease called Schistosomiasis, or “snail fever.” It kills
thousands of people in the developing world every year. Scientists of
the world health organization are now releasing prawn into the rivers
and lakes where these snails have proliferated. This prawn is a
natural predator of the snails, and for eons kept their populations in check. All
the prawns had been fished out of these areas for food for the very
humans who are now being killed by snail fever. There is a balance in
nature that must be respected, and there is a balance in the realm of
human affairs that must be respected. We will find our security in
that respect.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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