The idea for this entry came from a recent conversation with a friend, who mentioned that our greatest time of weakness - and the time when we most need to turn to God - is when things are going well. On September 10, 2001, the churches were empty. The next day - a Tuesday - churches were packed to the brim as people sought God in a time of unprecedented hardship. We are weak when we are not on alert. We do not seek help (or to give help) when life seems to be going just fine. Too often, we take this path of least resistance, and it blows up in our faces.
Such moments of weakness are not just confined to faith. We not only go to church only when there is hardship - we also give to aid groups only when immediate relief is needed. We go to the doctor when something hurts, and only after finding that home remedies will not work. We don’t know the emergency evacuation procedures until after an emergency occurs. We cram for tests the day before and write papers until 4 a.m. the day they are due. We invest more in our retirement when our careers are nearing completion. We’ll consider using more clean energy only when the flooding does not stop and climate change deniers become victims of their own denial.
The truth is, the consequences of complacency are not revealed at the time but rather when crisis hits. Aid groups need much more money than they would have otherwise to meet the same needs after a crisis. We find it much more difficult to cure a disease that has taken a strong hold than a young disease. We panic when emergencies hit. Our papers and exams are of inferior quality when we do not spread preparation out over more time. The compounding value of a 401(k) will never reach what it could have been if we started early, if we made it a habit. Our flood waters will rise ever higher and our air will get smoggier than could have been if we took immediate action on climate change.
A lesson I have learned from these consequences, and from my friend’s statement, is that preventive maintenance is cheaper in terms of time, money, energy, and other resources (emotional, mental, spiritual) than cleaning up after a crisis. Why bother with the intense suffering when we can reduce its pain? This concept holds true for international development. We can wait to invest in communities that can benefit more from tools in good times, as they fight forward against certain hardships (such as flooding or drought). Then, when it becomes ghastly not to offer help when hardship hits, we must pony up more resources to work toward the same solutions. This is humanitarian aid. Alternatively, we can strive to build up communities in good times so that they will be self-sufficient and prepared during hardship. This is development aid, and it is the Periclean model of partnership.
Now, I am not saying that I am above such moments of weakness. I have done my fair share of procrastinating and failing to go to the doctor at the first sign of an ailment. The important part is that I recognize fault here and try my best not to make this mistake in the future.
The point of recognizing fault and repenting, making a sincere effort to not make the same mistakes again, is a key point in the transformative learning process. Once we connect consequences with our inaction, we can begin to create better destinies for ourselves and our communities. For many Elon first year students, this starts with the Global Experience course that sparks a desire to move beyond our first-world privilege and take preventive action in global communities. The outlet for continued transformation becomes the Periclean Scholars Program.
The main measure of success is not to forget once the transformation has begun. We shouldn’t forget about Haiti years after the earthquake; we should be working with partners to undertake preventive maintenance for the next disaster - whether it be humanitarian, climate-related, another earthquake, or something else - as the Class of 2015 will be doing. As Pericleans, we should not forget about the work we did as undergraduates, but rather continue to engage the community as alumni. As the payoff is greater with acting before a crisis, the payoff is also greater if we act more than just once or for a short period of time.
For some crises, once they occur it may be too late. As an example, when 9/11 hit, we could never recover the lives of the 3,000 lost. However, we could work to prevent future attacks on our soil. Many of us might dismay the TSA, but we agree that the small inconvenience of longer check-in processes is better than the large inconvenience of losses of life. We can (and should) mourn the hardship, but to emerge stronger, we must transform our mindset to one of future preventive maintenance.
I invite you to participate in the preventive maintenance and transformative learning process, through ways that make the most sense to you. Invest time in learning the consequences of certain actions. Work backwards from some of your hardship to see how to minimize it next time. Learn about how development aid is far superior to humanitarian aid, and why. Donate to a program that facilitates development aid: the Periclean Scholars.
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