Everywhere we see hardships that result from people’s failure or refusal to acknowledge reality.
In the United States, for example, the outgoing president continues to exist in a world where he believes he has won a second term. Donald Trump, in forbidding his staff members to cooperate with the transition team of President-elect Joseph Biden, is only making a spectacular fool of himself by displaying his denial for Americans —and all the world—to see.
Then again, we do not need to look far to see some cases of denial here at home. As we reel from the impact of a string of typhoons, the most recent of which was Ulysses from last week, we are seeing the big role that denial plays in how we cope with hardships and challenges.
Foremost, we deny that we are perfectly within our rights to demand accountability from our national and local officials—in numerous areas of governance, but most especially during times of disaster. They are in office exactly to be visible and to commiserate with constituents when it matters, to provide help when tragedy strikes, and also to craft and implement strategies to mitigate the effects of disasters way before disaster occurs.
We deny that resilience can be a vice. We keep extolling it as a virtue that supposedly defines us as a people. Yes, we are always able to get up after a blow. But we also forgive liberally and forget too easily. We are quick to move on, to the relief and delight of those who should have done something but didn’t.
We also deny that these extraordinary weather patterns are occurring with increasing and frightful regularity. Ondoy, Yolanda, Rolly and Ulysses and the others are one-day occurrences, and for the other days of the year, the sun shines. During these sunny days, we distract ourselves with many things that convince us that typhoons, storm surges, flooding and the consequent losses are the exception more than the rule.
We do this, even though all the evidence points to the fact that their effects are lasting and devastating.
Finally, we deny the fact that we have a hand in shaping our future. During elections, we should choose leaders with good track record, experience on the job, and basic decency, instead of being carried away by sound bytes or colorful personalities.
