Are We Here to Save Ourselves?

By Alli Rogers • May 7th, 2008 • Category: Artists in Residence

We live in an unsafe world. And I’m not just talking about riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Trusting people is unsafe, believing anything we don’t know for sure is unsafe, waking up in the morning is unsafe, falling asleep at night is unsafe.

The other day a man who looked about my age knocked on our door and started asking questions about our security system. I looked at him like he was crazy, as if I was going to give him any information; he hadn’t even introduced himself! My reaction was to protect my home, my family, myself. It’s the same reaction I have every time I open the front door to anyone I don’t recognize. The same reaction I have every time I feel threatened.

It starts before we even leave our mother’s womb: the fight for survival. Vitamins, check ups, ultra sounds, … countless things are done for our protection. And then we enter the world of germs and disease, anger and indulgence, distortion and abuse. Our parents cover the electrical outlets and childproof the cupboards so we don’t drink the Windex. Teachers blow the whistle on the playground when we pick fights with our peers, or climb on the top of the jungle gym.

Despite the many efforts to keep us from pain, we all come to know guilt and remorse, we see the evening news a few too many times, we get hurt and misunderstood, we come face to face with our mortality. All of us do. Even the sheltered child raised in isolation from the ‘real world’ knows pain.

It’s our nature to protect what we have. But what if protection isn’t what our motivation should be? What if safety doesn’t come first?

It’s easy to feel justified in our safety endeavors. It feels right to lock the doors at night, to install an security system, to put a micro-chip under the skin of our pets, to buy the video monitor for the babies crib, to set up a savings account in case of an emergency, to carry hand sanitizer in our purses, to look both ways before we cross the street.

It even affects the way we choose our leaders. We vote for politicians who promise to raise OUR salary, who will look out for OUR demographic. Because isn’t that what we are here for, to save ourselves?

Is it?

↓ 3 comments

#1 Brian on May 9th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

I think your last two questions really drive home your point about the lives we lead and why we lead them the way we do. Because people naturally point out the negatives more easily and more frequently than the positives–be it about people, beliefs, or whatever–it should come as no surprise that they subsequently look to eliminate other negatives from their lives as well by trying to play safety police. We certainly need to take care of ourselves, but when it becomes more about saving ourselves than dying to ourselves with regard to the way we live and view others, then something has been missed.

#2 Nelson on May 13th, 2008 at 12:40 am

One thing is becoming more clear to me day after day, week after week, month after month.

It’s not about me.

#3 Jennifer on May 13th, 2008 at 12:41 am

This hits really close to home. I find it very hard to get close to people or to trust people….people I’ve known forever…because I’ve been hurt too many times. I definately agree with Brian’s last sentence.

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