Click Map for Details


Flag Counter

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Security / Insecurity Aplenty



What makes you feel secure: (a) Job? (b) Home? (c) Pension? (d) Spouse or friends? (e) Health? (f) Other? What would you rely on if these were taken away? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 1256).


We can think of specific examples wherein a change is bound to make us feel more secure. If a hurricane is headed directly for the Tampa Bay area, it is a no-brainer that a change in the storm's path away from threatening me would make for feelings of greater security. Likewise, if I lost my job this afternoon, I would feel much less secure financially; or if I were to learn from the doctor today that I have cancer, a major foundation of day-to-day feelings of security would be seriously fractured.

The question “what makes for feelings of security?” becomes more interesting if we turn away from crisis situations where the answer is obvious and turn to sources of less dramatic stress. If we focus on the home, it is clear that the most disruptive of all factors that undermine feelings of security there is a perception that one is not loved within the family unit. On a society level, the institution of government is key. Due to the inherent police power of the state, a state within which individual rights are not guaranteed is deeply unsettling; as well as a perception that the state does not respect and hold sacred the elemental integrity of other institutions including church, family, the press, and creative enterprise. Each of these institutions have a unique role to play and it must be a matter of certitude among the people that the basis of mutual respect is founded upon principle established by providence itself. As in everything this certitude does not obviate discussion and debate as to how best to implement principle while balancing rights and responsibilities among all. For example, regulation of the creative sector can be defended in terms of the common good when enterprise seeks to usurp the regulative role of the state.

The greatest source of anxiety in a society results when there is a prevalent feeling that we are on the wrong track—a track that will eventually lead to disaster. Never will all have the same perspective, but if a sizable minority feels this way, then intransigence will begin to appear on many fronts.







Print Page