No.1｜Being timid is often interpreted negatively, but being a very important emotion in this era
This article is a translation of this article.
Do you have great anxiety about society and the future?
If you look around, you'll see a lot of very serious and troubling problems.
・Japan's growing budget deficit
・Increasingly low birthrate and aging population
・The sixth biological mass extinction in the history of the planet
・Unstoppable climate change
Amidst the uncertainty and confusion, a coronavirus pandemic broke out, leading to the declaration of a state of emergency (2020.4). Suddenly, the company was asked to refrain from going out, and the company suffered heavy losses. With little compensation from the government, many companies are gradually being forced into bankruptcy. At the same time, not a few employees and part-timers have lost their places of work and are being driven into destitution. Under these circumstances, many people are hoping to defeat the coronavirus as soon as possible and return to their calm life before the corona outbreak. I know what it feels like to be under financial and emotional pressure.
On the other hand, it turns out that "simply wishing for things to go back to the way they were" is a pretty bad idea if you think about it calmly. This is because the pre-corona social structure itself was the cause of the pandemic. The population has grown to unprecedented levels in human history, with large numbers of people traveling the world and concentrating in cities. These factors have increased the probability of a pandemic and accelerated the spread of the disease, leading to the current situation.
As long as the old social structure is maintained, pandemics will be repeated many times in the future, each one causing social disruption. The emergence of more virulent viruses with longer incubation periods will cause far greater damage than today's viruses. Even without a pandemic, the problems listed at the beginning of this article were steadily undermining society and could become apparent in the future. This can also be interpreted as the first warning from the corona
In fact, a vague anxiety about the future is a very normal response. Japan's population composition is distorted and its finances are highly unstable. The stable climate and abundant nature are being lost and transformed into a harsh environment for human survival. Serious people are more likely to face such facts and feel uneasy about "a society that never changes. Most Japanese don't have a firm understanding of what is going on. It is really important to be timid; without it, we underestimate the risks. It is extremely dangerous to stop thinking about the future with the optimistic belief that everything will be solved by technology.
Unfortunately, cowardice is not welcomed or properly evaluated in Japan. Rarely do we see people who think far into the future, who care about future generations and nature, who have a firm vision and belief in the future. Even if you are feeling anxious, there is no one close to you to talk to, no one to answer your questions sincerely, and no one who is seriously troubled. It is not learned in compulsory education. No one believes that practicing the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) and power conservation alone will solve our environmental problems. Today's children have no adults around them to learn from, no emotional support, and they are imposed with only absurd expectations. If so, they either stifle their feelings and avoid seeing reality, or they become socially isolated and distrustful of people. It is so sad when honest people lose money and burn out secretly.
In this kind of trouble, seeking psychiatric help for this is difficult. At best, you'll end up trying to convince yourself to distinguish between what you can and cannot control and work on it as much as you can. But if we are convinced by such small acts, we will not be able to keep up with the rapid deterioration of the problem. Finding a easy compromise and giving up too soon can make the problem more difficult to solve by postponing it, and ultimately increasing regret in the future, wondering why we didn't act when we should have acted.
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!
These are the words of Swedish environmental activist Greta, who is striking schools and calling for solutions to global environmental problems. In a way, this is not the time to go to school in silence. That's how serious the situation is. We are leaving a tremendous bill to future generations. A life that is resented by future generations of children and grandchildren, even if they have lived a life of material wealth and personal success, is not something to be proud of.
Global environmental issues are not just technical questions, but are closely related to economic and philosophical factors. Ultimately, it is a story about the choice of "how one should live.
Why are the Japanese indifferent to problems and underestimate future risks, why is Japan's budget deficit growing and social disparity widening, what kind of society should we aspire to, and what should we learn, think and act on now? I would like to present what I have done to face these questions and summarize their root causes.