COVID-19 and Survival Instinct

Nowadays, our world's agenda is the coronavirus, COVID'19, and our previous agenda was the refugee crisis. Previously, climate change was attracting attention, depending on its impact on the country and countries’ caring about it.

The refugee issue concerns some countries deeply. Some countries, on the other hand, are only interested in the increase in the number of asylum seekers, but unfortunately, most countries in the world do not care at all.

While Climate change has affected and worried some countries a lot in the same way, some countries are only mildly concerned. Unfortunately, as with the refugee issue, it does not concern or does not worry most of the countries in the world at all.

Unlike other problems, Coronavirus seems to worry almost the whole World. The reason for this can be said that its consequences are coming out in the short term, not in the long term as in the climate change example. Another reason can be said that it does not distinguish people according to rich-poor, young-old or social status. It can also be said that it is not an issue like the refugee issue. Because the refugee issue does not directly concern a person or does not affect a person's life.

Unfortunately, our world is drifting towards a new catastrophe every day due to reasons such as wars, dictators, epidemics and climate change.

When we look at the number of deaths from the virus epidemic, it is not that much compared to deaths in wars, internal turmoil or drugs. The most important factor that worries people, even though the number of deaths is low, is that the person does not know when and where he or she is going to encounter the virus.

In recent days, humanity has been even more concerned about coronavirus, and in some countries, life has almost come to a standstill. Food and medical supply stocking have started to accelerate. Education was interrupted, sports competitions, meetings, travels were canceled, and even curfews were declared in some countries.

When we look at this situation, we see different reasons for the two segments. The first is from the authorities' point of view, which is an effort to reduce the speed of an epidemic and to reduce mortality rates. The second is from the individuals’ point of view. This shows itself in the form of trying to be protected from disease by isolating itself from social life and by stocking.

In both cases, the behavior of real and legal entities is entirely aimed at protecting themselves and their social environment. This protection instinct is completely human. And that's what's supposed to happen.

That is exactly what I want to talk about in this article. That is to say, one’s instinct to protect himself/herself and his/her environment!

One interacts with his/her environment, from the smallest circle to the largest circle. He/she loves his/her spouse, child, mother, father, house, car, dog as well as his nation, country, continent and world with a distinct feeling. These interests have an impact on the person in proportion to its proximity. Because of this intimacy and emotion, the person has expectations from what he likes. Similarly, the loved ones of the person have expectations from that person. Just as the parents have expectations from their children and the child has expectations from their parents, the person's homeland and the world expect something from him/her.

It can be said that these expectations are in the same proportion as human psychology. In other words, everything is mutual. Everything is mutual, but its time, shape, and feel vary according to the closeness and the distance of the circle.

For example, your apathy and neglect towards a close friend reflect you in a few days, but the consequences of damage to nature arise after decades. As I said, the time of the feedback is directly proportional depending on the proximity of the circle.

As Mark Twain refers in his book "What Is Man?", man is an entity that acts for his/her interests. However, that does not mean "man is a completely selfish being." as Twain said. Tolstoy says "If one suffers, he's alive. If one feels someone else's pain, he's human,". The best behavior that makes man precious and feels precious is what they do for someone else. The most important factor here that adds value to man is expecting something relatively less in return for what they do.

The thing to balance our expectations, our interests, that may arise as a result of our behavior is empathy. Empathy is one of the biggest factors affecting human behavior.

585,000 people died in 2017 as a result of drug use.[1] The UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced that the number of people being forced to flee their homes for many reasons is 70 million.[2] Natural disasters, endangered animals and endangered plants attract our attention because they show the consequences of climate change.

Due to climate change, the balance of natural vegetation is deteriorating, and animals are becoming more and more endangered. For example, let’s imagine a polar bear walking on the iceless land although it should walk on the snow. Or let's think of a fish that went without water and died on the soil as a result of a dried lake. Let's imagine our grandchildren will never see the endangered Golden-Headed langur, the Polar Bear, the Sumatran Tiger, and the Javan Rhinoceros.

Due to the virus, we get bored in our houses with several rooms, despite our full refrigerators, the internet, and television. While we are in this situation, we cannot understand these hungry and poor people who lack social and financial means and have to get stuck in a room or a tent. True prosperity cannot dominate the world unless we understand them and do something for them!

Let's imagine that we did not open our eyes to the world at a certain level of prosperity in a country without problem or let’s just say we did not open our eyes to the world in an average country or an average family. Let's say we were born in Angola in 1960 or Rwanda in 1994, went to primary school in Somalia in 2006, became a child in Syria or Afghanistan in 2010, and in 2020, we were a young high school refugee trying to cross rivers, seas or countries’ borders. Let's feel the pain of internal turmoil, wars, and hunger that we don't cause. Imagine your peers drink coffee in cafes, eat in restaurants, hang out with their friends whereas you are not able to buy or have a chance to find even a dry bread or a clean glass of water to satisfy your hunger. Or, when we see a father who bought a birthday gift worth thousands of lira (kroner) for his child, let's imagine that we are a father who feels the pain of not being able to afford to buy a shoe to his child.

And let's imagine that we cause all of these directly or indirectly by remaining silent.

Just as how humans bounded together strongly and tried to get rid of this disease when a virus epidemic occurs, we, as people in this world, must stand up to the problems that happen to any community or any individual. This is like trying to extinguish a fire in a neighbor's house by a person living in the same building. By extinguishing the fire, a person not only helps his neighbor but also prevents the fire from spreading into his own home. In our globalized world, one day, every fire will surround our houses eventually. Maybe right now, maybe months, maybe years later. We saw this clearly in the case of coronavirus.

Sometimes let's support a refugee by taking him/her under our wing, and sometimes let's be refugees' voices to end the wars, turmoils, unlawfulness in their country. Let's announce the troubles they suffered to the whole world. Let’s put pressure on these outlaws both materially and morally via our strong states.

In short, just as how we react to a virus carefully and meticulously, let’s stand up against wars, human rights violations, refugees, and natural deterioration, of which its consequences eventually comes up maybe in a decade.

This caring and attention should be the same as our caring for the virus. And this behavior is completely human, natural. This is what it should be.

To better understand the subject, I recommend you to watch the 2019 movie The Platform (+18) directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia.[3]

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/illicit-drug-use#indirect-deaths-drug-use-as-a-risk-factor-for-premature-death

[2] https://www.unhcr.org/tr/en/22072-worldwide-displacement-tops-70-million-un-refugee-chief-urges-greater-solidarity-in-response.html

[3] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8228288/