(Image courtesy of Simply Psychology)
“SOOOO… Getting my diploma on-time so I can get a job and pay off this pending debt isn’t essential, but y’all still want to recruit me prior to completing my coursework to come work on the front lines for this ‘temporary’ pandemic--but also complete my coursework at home where it’s REALLY NOT the best place to do so… ¿¡Cómo e’, Sway?!”
At the start of the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many peripheral issues arose: the inability to continue paying bills due to job layoffs, the delay or cancellation of many high school and college seniors’ graduation, the state of being confined to a house where abuse and lack of resources is prevalent, etc. The order to “stay home to save lives”, for many, is a catch 22 situation as their livelihood--or ability to live--is not secure by staying home. However, this does not negate the fact that all citizens adhering to the “shelter-in-place” policy is the best way to reduce the spread of coronavirus. After all, our physical safety and survival is the priority, and jobs/institutions that ensure those things will remain functioning with necessary changes. Cool, but when will all of the other issues become a priority again? I hear you, and let me offer some perspective.
Abraham Maslow, a psychologist of the mid-1900s and founder of the school of thought known as humanistic psychology, developed what is known--and still widely used--as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In this concept Maslow suggests that there are some needs that must be met before others, and approaching the higher level needs is a gradual process. Starting with the most fundamental of needs, the hierarchy is as follows: physiological needs (food, water, warmth, sex, sleep) ⇒ safety and security (fitness, employment, resources) ⇒ love and belonging (family, community, intimacy) ⇒ esteem (respect, recognition, independence) ⇒ self-actualization (operating in fullest potential, tending to aesthetic and cognitive needs). Though logical, the progression of needs may not be so clear cut, especially when ones’ needs intersect with another’s. For example, a husband-father may disregard his bedrest order to make sure his family is ensured the security of a stable household. Just as well, the same man may have stopped communicating with his parents and siblings if they did not support his career choices. Priorities differ from one person to another, especially those who feel that all of their needs are met (the highest level of motivation known as transcendence), which may affect their ability to see their altruistic acts as overstepping boundaries with how to sufficiently meet someone else’s needs.
Let’s not get it twisted; there is an incredibly urgent need to save billions of lives. Though the severity of this pandemic we’re experience could have been avoided, the choices and work of each state’s government have proven attentive and effective. That said, do not take these new policies as attacks on your very real, very valid personal needs. With each day these needs are being addressed (e.g. the stimulus checks from the IRS, telecommunication companies providing devices and internet service to businesses and households). Now it is our necessary responsibility to act responsibly, for ourselves and for each other.
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