How
do you cope with a looming disaster that is virtually unavoidable?
Someone recently asked me an equivalent question, and my first
response was, "I try to make sure that if it happens, I'm not
responsible." He thought I was just going to blame someone
else. "It's not about blame," I corrected him, "it's
about control: controlling what you can, and not accepting
responsibility for what you can't."
I've
addressed this issue in my writing, especially around the growing
demolition of our planet's biosphere, and my role in it. In general,
I come down on the side of accepting responsibility for whatever I
may have done, as well as its direct and indirect consequences. As a
result, I try to be very cautious and conscious, though – I'm the
first to admit – not enough so.
Because
I also value commitment, I've applied a lot of that caution to
choosing who and what I will closely associate with. It takes a lot
to break those bonds, even when I discover that I've chosen poorly.
If there's any hope of keeping disaster at bay, I'll fight to do so
("Never give up!" is one of my favorite sayings). There
is, however, one major exception: when it becomes clear that
fighting will only make things worse. I'm not so narcissistic as to
think that I'm the best person to solve every problem – or even
most of them. As with everyone else, there's a limit to what I know
and what I can do, contributing to the risk of causing more problems
for every one I try to solve.
Sometimes
it seems like the best I can say is that at least I care. The people
I least respect are those who don't care about the impact of their
actions, rationalizing the consequences away as the price of pursuing
the equivalent of "virtuous self-interest" (one of the most
horrific oxymorons I can think of). When pressed, they point to
competition, appeasing their consciences with the notion that if
everyone tries to serve themselves, then the "winner"
deserves what he or she gets – and, conversely, the "losers,"
pretty much everyone else, deserve what little they get.
Many
disasters caused (or not averted) by people are, in my opinion, due
to an unwillingness to take responsibility for the negative
consequences of actions or inaction. Responsibility, which tends to
manifest personally as a modification of our self-image based on what
we have caused to happen, is a motivation for exerting as much
control as we are able, without causing conditions to get worse.
It
is possible to take too much responsibility, assuming that our impact
is greater than it is. This is a sure path to either depression (for
the bad things) or unjustified euphoria (for the good things).
Therefore it must be tempered by honesty, with ourselves and with
others, and a healthy dose of testing with experience to see what our
impacts really are. This approach has helped me personally to back
away from extreme stress caused by my growing awareness of the damage
done by my lifestyle, acknowledging what I can't (and couldn't)
control, while looking for ways to use what knowledge and power I
have to make things better.
