The Glocal Crisis and our Correct Response
The Glocal Crisis and our Correct Response
This crisis is humored to last for a long time. Is this the one prophesied to be the distress which great magnitude there was none like it experienced before?
This crisis has already started to show to be a glocal crisis, that is, global in scope with local impact, hence, you can not run from. That is what we mean by glocal. No longer can one say, I won’t be affected by what happens in America or in Europe. This is an interlinked and interconnected world system which if America, as one puts it, sneezes, the whole world catches cold. And certainly, it is today. Worse, America is not only sneezing but bleeding and the whole world is suffering more than mere cold, but hemorrhage, as one analyst said!
We will not describe here the increasingly worsening magnitude and gravity of this glocal crisis. The newspapers and TV news are daily updating us about the impact. And, perhaps, would space and time allow in the future, we can chronicle a summary of those
effects starting from the US to Europe, to Asia, to Australia, to the rest of the Americas, to Africa, and from the high echelons of the government and big businesses down to the smallest sari-sari store and individual family in our village.
But for the moment, we will focus on HOW WE CAN PROPERLY RESPONSE to this GLOCAL CRISIS.
What should be our response: cover our selves with daily pleasures and entertainment to avoid fear or face it squarely and with the help of God?
The Government Response
Perhaps to prevent panic, our government has been downplaying the ongoing difficulties many of us already suffer as well as the predicted and feared greater difficulties this glocal crisis will send to our individual door.
Perhaps to sustain confidence and order, and avoid panic withdrawal of deposits, panic buying and hoarding, the government prefers to play the role of a soothsayer saying soothing words that hide the frightening face of the danger and allows it to eat up its victim like hidden termites destroying a house whose owners do not know these termites exist or who prefer to ignore their existence. However, this preference to ignorance or the use of false soothing information gives us a false complacency, a false sense of security and false hope, at the same time preventing us from making precaution and preparation to escape the coming storm or at least, if we cannot totally avoid it, to minimize the damage and save lives.
The one who preferred lies and ignorance
There is a story of a young woman who had just married. One day, a lump in her breast was detected. So, she and her husband immediately went to the doctor for a check-up. All types of examination were conducted by the doctor and the result was first told to the husband in private, without the wife hearing it. For sure enough, it was a malignant breast cancer, with two years for the wife to live.
Involuntarily, large drops of tear fell from the man’s eyes as he felt as if the whole world fell on him… Then came the question whether or not to tell a lie to his wife to sustain her jest of life… in other words, to give a false hope. Cancer is incurable, anyway, the husband reasoned out, and she had only two years to live which must be spent as happy as can be. If he would tell the truth, then, hopelessness and sorrow would totally cover his otherwise happy and hope-filled wife. So, it seemed to him that the lie is the better course.
The husband asked the doctor’s cooperation and so, the woman was glad after being told that it was just a harmless cyst.
Then time progressed slowly towards two years. The wife’s happy personality did not change. She had still that vibrant and generous smile, and the tremendous joy of life, which enhanced her great natural beauty.
When her husband from afar, before reaching home, viewed her in the backyard tending her flower plants, he would catch the contagious enthusiasm of his wife just to hide his heart pricked with a deep pain the truth was giving him. This is the greater pain he was not willing to give to his wife, in addition to the imminent physical pain cancer would soon give her. At least her suffering would be shorter and minimized by ignorance of the truth.
But there was a higher price the husband was paying for not telling and not facing the truth: He could not with his wife fight the cancer head-on or do something to perhaps delay or conquer it.
Because he lied about it, he could only provide his wife with ineffective placebos, “first-aid”-like treatments and could not in any way delay nor heal the cancer.
Lying about a truth may be motivated by love or some good intention. But lie or ignoring is never a true ally of love. Lie always betrayed love. Truth alone is faithful to love, no matter if such truth hurts.
Had they faced up the truth, the wife could have done radical moves that would prove effective in arresting the cancer – courses of actions that proved effective among cancer survivors.
What for example?
One is to completely stop the intake of anything (e.g., food, drink, smoke, etc.) that was chemically processed (e.g., brown and white sugar, vitamin supplements, etc.) and anything chemical mixed to food or drinks (e.g., food additives, artificial colorings, artificial flavorings, preservatives, texture enhancers, etc.) for the chemical contents of these food or drinks are oxidants (free radicals) – carcinogenic, that is, either starter of cancer or promoter (feed, fertilizer) to cancer. It is called free radical because it runs around like a barbarian or like an amok with a machete (bolo) stabbing whoever (cell) gets in the way or happens to be in the vicinity, injuring cells. The injured cells usually turned cancerous.
Two: The wife could also have started an anti-cancer diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and roots which are rich in Vitamins A, C and E, fiber, phytochemicals like isoflavones, genistein, daidzein, protease inhibitors, phytic acids, saponins, and the likes which together as a powerful army could besiege the cancer territory, cut all life-support supply such as the capillaries that supply nutrients and oxygen to those cancer cells, thus, arrest the growth of the cancer, cause it to wither and die.
Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables (like papaya, carrots, squash, tisa) are very rich in Vitamin A-Beta Carotene. Guavas and citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C. Vitamin E is abundantly found in the germs of seeds such as whole grains of rice, corn, or wheat, also in legumes and nuts. Germ is the seed’s soft spot that germinates into seedling. To avail of natural Vitamin E, don’t refine-or-polish mill your grains; eat whole, unpolished grains of rice, corn or wheat (Bisayan: pinawa) where the germ is still intact.
E. Excel’s Dr. Jau-Fei Chen, one of America’s multi-awarded woman scientists, microbiologists, and nutritional immunologists, has warned us about the “mysterious” thing that happens if we extract the Vitamin A, C, E or any other vitamin or nutrient from their “community” inside the wholesome food, isolate and pack them into supplements. In their natural state and location inside seeds, fruits or leaves, these Vitamins A, C and E are anti-oxidants, that is, they fight cancer. But, they suddenly turned traitor and changed loyalty, when they are chemically extracted from their community and chemically processed, they become pro-oxidants, that is, promoter, supporter of cancer-causing oxidants, or even offer themselves as feeds and fertilizers to carcinogen and cancer cells!?
It seems that these substances have “feelings” and have a sense of belonging to the community where they came from, and if taken out of it, they seemed to become “emotionally disturbed” and turned destructive, thus, they are called “free radicals”.
However, Dr. Chen hastened to add that it would be less destructive if water or some other non-chemical agent is used in the extraction as well as in the following processes. Using conventional processes, such as sun-drying, that does not affect the atomic or subatomic composition of the substances is safe. So, making Moringa or Ampalaya tea by sun-drying is safe.
The third most important cancer-offensive the couple could have done is at the mental-emotional level: supply the body with (1) positive mental thought-waves such as during prayer and meditation and (2) positive emotions through the heart such as love for God, gratitude for His countless blessings, love for fellowmen, compassion for the poor, sick and needy, and other similar positive emotions. These positive thought-waves and positive feeling-wave, forming what we call ATTITUDES, are like electricity or laser which operate tumors, dissolve foreign bodies, kills cancer germs, heal diseases.
These thought-waves and emotion-waves – these positive ATTITUDES -- can besiege the cancer territory like when Joshua and his army encircled Jericho and caused its fall (Joshua 5:13 – 6:27). They would march and encircle the fortified cancer territory until the high walls of the City of Jericho collapsed!
Because a mind filled with powerful positive thoughts, a heart that exudes positive healing feelings, coupled by complete self-denial of carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals and substances), and supported by anti-cancer diet – these form the spiritual-physical army of Joshua to bring the fall of Jericho!
The spiritual part is consisted of the mind and heart. The physical part is comprised by the diet that inhibits cancer and the avoidance of those which cause cancer.
How is successful response and offensive against cancer done?
First, by a diet and practices which fortify your own immune system. This is the first act of prevention.
Second, by early detection. Forewarned is forearmed. The book of Proverbs says, A prudent man (fore-)sees danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it (Proverb 22:3). This is repeated in Proverbs 27:12. In the Bible, as any minister can tell you, when a verse is repeated at least twice, it is an indication that it is very important.
So, we have similar case with Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 which speaks about a way that seems right to man but ends in destruction and death. This is what has happened to our materialistic, consumptive approach to life without due regard to the protection and preservation of our environment, our old folks, our children, our women, our old moral values. We sacrifice them all in the pursuit of that deceptive “better life”.
Proverbs 11:14 is repeated in Hosea 4:14, 6: “My people perish,” God laments, “for lack of knowledge and foresight” which could have helped them take precautions or to enforce a paradigm shift (repentance).
Lesson from Noah’s flood
Only Noah cared to know what was to come. And only he and his family – only 8 souls among many millions – believed and did take the pre-caution by entering the ark.
The rest?
“For in those days before the flood, people were eating, drinking, marrying and divorcing and merrying” care-less, not sober about life, wasting life in pleasure and frivolities “up to the time Noah entered the ark.
“And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and swept them all away,” Jesus described the sad state of affairs of Noah’s people in Matthew 24:38-39.
And this should cause us some serious concern because Jesus predicted: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (v.37). And, yes, this should worry us because it was repeated in verse 39: “This is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Jesus was referring to our days – this end-time!
The majority will be caught be surprise. They are so engrossed in their daily and worldly affairs, tied to their tireless pursuits, pre-occupied with their vices. They are so entertained by their hobbies, by TV shows… so that they don’t have time left for the most important preparations in life -- for the coming of the Lord.
Anything good becomes bad if it prevents your from preparing for the Kingdom of God.
Learning the lesson from the story of the cancer couple above, LET US NOT RESORT TO SOOTHING LIE (SOOTHSAYINGS) NOR SETTLE FOR IGNORANCE BECAUSE IT PREVENTS US FROM SEEING THE TRUTH AND MAKING THE NECESSARY PRE-CAUTIONS AND PREPARATION.
Let us face the facts – admit the truth no matter how frightening it to be. Accept the consequences and expect more bitter consequences. Because from here, and only from this low ground, can we touch the dust, from where we came, with our feet and hands and work in our farms humbly, and resignedly to God, asking Him to forgive us our transgressions and begging Him to empower us with His love to gain the motivation of life, and the wisdom to make the most out of what He has given to us, or of what has remained of it after our years of negligence.
I am a man of high ambitions, albeit noble ones. But like many of you, or perhaps ahead many of you, I came to bow down to see the ground in which I stand, and say, As everything fails, let me start planting now bananas as fast as I can; collect humus and topsoil in the forests to fill up my greatly eroded lots; fertilize my mangoes with as much compost or weeds as possible; collect my urine and even excrement to bury near the trunk of my fruit trees to hasten their growth and increase their fruits (yes, Jehovah noted for super-clean laws of hygiene in the Old Testament had commanded or rather recommended very much long time ago, in Deuteronomy 23, I guess, that we bury in the soil our excrement, not flash them into septic tank. One reason is for organic fertilization of the soil, I’m sure! See, God was far advanced before we ever thought about that!) ; gather chicken and goat dung to augment the fertility of the soil; doing intercropping to maximize the limited space; talk or sing to my trees or just stay close to them as often as I can to increase the supply of carbon dioxide they need for their health and productivity; gather sawdust and rice hulls from the nearby chain saw operator and rice mill; collect earthworms to place them in your land to hasten the making of organic fertilizer; dig more compost pit to collect the leaves there; increase the number of livestock to increase the supply of dung and carbon dioxide which my plants and trees need very badly, etc., etc. and throw away the impatience that made me abandon that little inheritance I receive from my ancestor.
***
Let’s follow the example of the new-elect President of the U.S., Barrack Obama. He said he is facing the global crisis head-on. Quite courageous. No denial. No evasion. No cowardice. No false hope intended. No false complacency. No false security.
Just head-on.
Hope becomes false and fake if it will not happen and the people get disappointed. Hope becomes true and genuine if it will happen because what is done and sown in the past as well as today will make it happen.
For example: you planted corn and hope to harvest some corn. Because you had sown, then, you can hope; your hope is certain, or almost certain, excepting only some force major. But if you had not planted corn, then, your hope to harvest some corn is empty, completely false: you are expecting something from nothing, you are expecting from which will not happen because you did not sow it which you wanted to reap.
Also we cannot hope the danger will disappear if we did not do something to prevent or remove such danger -- the bad of effect of the past wrong deeds. This concerns the present crisis as an example. Giving the hope that the future will be OK while we did not and do not do something to avoid, prevent or inhibit cancer, is a false hope; the cancer will happen despite our denial. We have caused it! And no amount of hoping can prevent the glocal crisis from inflicting its harm upon us, because we helped bring it about or if we did not (which is doubtful), at least we failed to put the necessary safety nets, and unless we prepare and take preventive measures, we will suffer with the rest.
This reminds me of what our God had pre-cautioned us about the faulty systems of the government, sciences and businesses of this world: “Come out of her (evil systems, practices or methods) My people, lest you will partake in her sins and her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).
There we have the correct approach which we should have done before this crisis occurred. We would have been spared. Now, the crisis will surely spill over our backyard.
We should have reminded ourselves that if we want the future to be more secure, then, we should have done everything that would help make our future more secure. If we want stability, then, we must have done what would create stability. If we want peace, then, we must have done what would produce peace. We should have sown the seeds of what we want to reap. If we want prosperity, then, let us sow the seeds (that is, actions) that will yield prosperity.
***
The local impact will be certainly painful because many of our families and our country’s economy depend almost totally to our 8 millions of OFWs.
60% of the OFW remittances come from the U.S. which is the epicenter, hence, one most badly hit by the glocal crisis. Pray that our OFWs and migrants in the USA would be spared as well as those in other places!
TV news last week reported of the 30,000 OFWs were laid off in the Middle East. Last night, TV news reported that an additional 40 OFWs are stranded in Saudi welfare shelter, waiting help so they can return to the Philippines.
The loss of their overseas employment is the most logical effect to happen after these Americans or Arabs employers lost their jobs or businesses which is what is happening now! So, it will not take very long that our OFWs will also lose their jobs soon. And this will send an earth quake shock to our economy, both national and family.
This will immediately impoverish the 8 million OFW families, that is, many of them. And the government is virtually doing nothing, and its announcement to create jobs for the returning 50,000 OFWs is still a lip-service!
So, we must go beyond mere intention. It should be real action. We should generate jobs, create livelihoods, cause productivity and income to increase at the local level, that is, in the barangay and municipal levels.
***
For President Obama and the rest of us to succeed, we must first remove all the lies and totally clear up ignorance like removing a thick veil from covering our eyes, so we can clearly see and know what to do.
First, we must see honestly the real score – the true seriousness of the problem – this glocal crisis. How serious is the problem? Correct answer must be given or found. Also how serious will it turn out as time goes on?
Second, what is the general cause and what are its sub-causes so that we can put a total stop of them? There is always a general – primary, main cause – the root cause, and with it, subsequent sub-causes.
There is a cause for every effect. To stop the effect (e.g., flood), we locate or identify the cause (e.g., leak) to be able to decide what to do next, (e.g., repair the pipe). But how can we stop the flood if we do not know the leak exists and if we do not know where it is located?
Therefore, to solve a problem, we must know the root-cause, put a stop of it, arrest its sub-causes and solve the whole problem and sweep the mess!
Third, we need to know our strengths and weaknesses so we can know where can we easily defend ourselves, and project the aspects or areas where we will be most hardly hit, thus, can seek help in advance.
Fourth, after knowing our strengths and weaknesses, we can then size up the possible impact of the glocal crisis. How badly may our different sectors of our society be affected? The OFWs? Our exporters? Our businesses? Our economy? Our jobs? Our agriculture? Our schooling? Our finances? Our health? Our dreams and aspirations and goals and plans in life? How will this crisis re-align our priorities and trim our pursuits? How is this going to streamline and simplify our complicated lives and expensive lifestyles?
Surely this crisis will strip many false concepts, false assumptions and wrong pursuits naked! We will discover our false securities. We will discover the real things that matters. Real values will emerge from the depth they were formerly buried. Hopefully, this will streamline our lives, point us towards the true and lasting values of life, correct our priorities, lead us to the right path leading us to God, eternal life, salvation, and to our loved ones whom we might have neglected for so long.
Fifth, we need to come up with a “Things To Do List” to serve as our defense-offense strategy like what the woman in our story should have, could have and would have done had she known her cancer.
Finally, we must make the final decision to whom shall we run for help and salvation: to God or to man? There is a big difference if we care to find out. To depend to God means to depend for His help as well as to depend on His ways (thus, use them) to produce the hoped-for results.
***
These comprise our correct response to this glocal crisis. Not evasion, not soothsaying, but only seeing the harsh reality (the truth) and taking the bitter pills, and when we have done that, know that we can now genuinely hope for real salvation.
As the theme of Obama goes, and I rephrase: Real hope comes from real change, not from evading, lying or soothsaying.
Next time, we will expound on where we have left. Our article today deals with how we can rightly respond to the looming glocal crisis that analysts say would last long and cuts deep, affecting us in all aspects: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, as well as affecting our health, happiness and peace!
For the moment, don’t forget that there is a God, a real God, who is alive, and who is all-loving and all-wise and whose almightiness exceeds all and can execute what His love and wisdom directed Him to do!
If you can hold on to the real “Him”, and not mistake Him in His limited symbols and wooden statues, that is, if you can distinguish between Him and His statues presented by the Church – if you can see the difference between His all-seeing eyes from the blind eyes of His wooden statue so that you feel afraid to steal from the government coffers or commit secret sin against your wife or against your neighbor – and if you know that He has a living eyes who can see, not just your sins, but also your helplessness and misery – and if you can differentiate His real heart that beats pity to help you and if you can see how his living heart differs from the dead heart of His wooden or concrete statue who cannot feel compassion and is callous -- if you can differentiate His living arms from the dead arms of His statue that cannot reach out to save – if you do not mistake Him as the statue – if you see the difference between the living God and His dead wooden image – and if you do not take God for His statue – and if you only treat the statue as your reminder of God's appearance perhaps, or at most revere it being His representation but not worship it, or at least appreciate it as a beautiful work of art (sculpture) but not allow it to reduce your recognition and definition of Who and What is God –
-- if you do not conjure up a law from the blind statue to say, “You can steal, commit adultery, murder, lie, cheat and covet because I do not have eyes to see” --- if you stop saying, “I will depend more on gambling to augment my income or to get rich because there is no God who can see my lack and need and can help me in my difficulties” -- if you can stop treating God as helpless and unresponsive likening Him to His dead statue – if you can stop thinking that He is as unfeeling as His statue – if you can stop thinking that His arms are as dead and short as the arms of His statue – if you can begin to see and believe and realize that His eyes is all-seeing and merciful, that His arms are very long and can reach the farthest distance to save those who cry for His help, that His feet is swift to save and slow to punish, that His heart is softer and far more compassionate than the most kind father on earth, that His mouth is alive and able to direct you to the right ways where you should go --
then, and only then, are we in the better position to hope for real salvation to come into this country.
But if we remain worshipping the statue thinking it is the real God, then, we have transgressed at least two of His commandments, namely: “You shall have no other gods before Me” and “You shall not make any graven images…to worship them instead of Me”. Then the true living God is far from us. We ourselves have distanced from Him. We have cut ourselves from Him. Our rejecting Him in favor of another false god is the cause why He cannot help, why He cannot save, why He would not.
We may have as many graven images as we like, but only NEVER WORSHIP THEM nor take them as our God! You can ascribe love to them worthy for great works of arts and beauty but never love them above God, nor in such a measure as if they are real gods.
WE have to know the difference. Then, we can know Whom shall we work with to overcome this crisis. This is already a greatest move towards solution and to the “place of safety” where we cannot be reached by the looming severe economic earthquake that may cause the collapse all of cities (financial centers) and that will cause all mountains (proud people and things) to be leveled of (Revelation 16).
Take this to heart and take the salvation work of the Savior very seriously. It means your own life and the salvation of those whom you love the most!
God bless.
