Thunderbolts and expectations
The tragedies at Mati and Tempe, and what followed, strengthen the lack of trust which nests inside us and determines how we see the world and what we do. Our state tricks us repeatedly. It gives the impression that it learned something from prior errors, only to prove once again that the latest tragedy was avoidable, its handling woeful (if not criminal) and that our polity still does not know how to gain citizens’ trust. We feel insecure, realizing that bad things are not prevented, no one is held to account, the victims are left to their fate, and that all this keeps being repeated.
How we continue to shape behaviors and processes which maintain this deadly incompetence demands substantial, frank and lengthy public debate, not the usual, useless political skirmishing, nor the trotting out of pithy maxims. We know what our wise ancestors had to say, just as we know that our politicians’ priority is to shift blame onto their rivals. The question is – as a society – how can we do something to protect ourselves? As individuals, we know that our greatest defenses are personal networks (family, political, regional etc) which we can rely on. We know, also, that despite this inequality being at the root of our misfortunes, we cannot change: If we abdicate our advantage over fellow citizens, they will acquire it at our expense. And so, we are “united” by the common understanding that we are not equal. And this inequality confirms our suspicions of injustice everywhere. And yet, we continue to harbor expectations that, over time, we are building a more just society – without checking to see whether it is on firm ground.
The great novelist Paul Auster, who died on April 30, described this tragic mentality with masterful clarity. When he was 14, he was standing right next to another boy who was killed by a lightning bolt. “Until then, I thought I was walking on solid ground. There is no such thing. Anything can happen to anyone at any moment. So simple,” he said in an interview with Kathimerini. This is what the ancient poets taught. We, however, must deal not only with “Fortune” and “the gods,” but also with our unmanageable weaknesses.
