HARD TRUTHS
By now most of you have heard the story of the couple (seen right) who amidst coronavirus fears bought out the entire stock of items like disinfectant wipes in three small Canadian towns, then sold them online at 4 times the cost. They raked in $30,000 profit before Amazon shut them down. Most of us will no doubt question the morality of the couple's actions. We wonder, what happens then to the senior citizen (the most vulnerable of all the virus threatened populations) who lives on a small pension and who now has to choose between groceries; potentially dying from the virus for lack of disinfectant; and buying a normally $20 pack of wipes for $80?
Believe it or not, the couple's actions are merely a grotesque extension of the capacity we all have in us to act in equally self-serving ways. The American Psychological Association describes this as the 'self-preservation instinct' to 'avoid injury and maximize chances of survival' (www.dictionary.apa.org/self-preservation-instinct).
Its also an instinct, by the way, that Jesus defied, as those of us who follow him--and even many who do not--are keenly aware. Will the Christian body politic follow suit? Will the rest of society?
Or will we justify hoarding 100 rolls of toilet paper and clearing the grocery shelves while the family next door with 3 young children comes up empty-handed? For those of us who live in societies where we are allowed to carry personal firearms, will we take to guarding our stuff through violence?
Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow
When one person buys every box of sanitizing product possible so their kid can attend private school, they are yielding to primitive fear that their kid's well-being is somehow threatened. This in turn triggers a 'whatever it takes' rush to ensure that does not happen.
Fear short-circuits altruism. Psychologist Daniel Goleman describes this event as an amygdala hijack, when our rational brain gets 'hijacked' by our instinctive brain. It's why in the midst of our sworn openness to diversity, we sometimes recoil when faced with it. Reason ('I have no proof this person is a threat') gives way to survival instinct ('Stranger danger! Stranger danger!') and wariness replaces inclusiveness toward that new neighbor, colleague, fellow student, even church member. Nobel prize economist Daniel Kahneman describes this as the victory of our 'thinking fast' brain over our 'thinking slow' brain.
As most churches and megachurchess like T.D. Jakes' Potters House and Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church go online, I have been encouraged by the messaging I am hearing from some preachers. They are calling on Christians to rise to the occasion...to resist the self-preservation instinct and instead seek how we can share with those who do not have the options we do. In the words of The Meeting House's Bruxy Cavey, "we were made for this".
This messaging is fully in keeping with Jesus' challenge to his early disciples: “You are the salt of the earth", he said. "But if the salt loses its saltiness...it is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out...You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a candle and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house..." (Matthew 5:13-140.
Regardless of our faith (or non-faith) traditions, let us strive to be salt and light to each other as we enter the rocky uncertainty of the weeks ahead.