By Patricia Mukhim
These are traumatic times. Social media – our only mode of connecting with friends and relatives near and far has become an obituary page with someone losing a family member or friend or colleague. As a media person I have spent years critiquing governments for their acts of omission and commission. In fact, for most of us, the Government is the only bashing board. We swear at politicians and bureaucrats because we look up to them as a cure to every ailment. We continue to do so even now and social media is rife with memes of politicians and government officials. But now is the time to stop bashing up people on social media for own failure to rise to the occasion. Too many spend too much time on social media, sometimes into the wee hours and wake up late thereby subjecting their biological and mental systems to abuse. Lockdowns are a drag but they are a necessity to break the chain of infection. We cannot punish ourselves merely because of the temporary (hopefully) suspension of socializing. This is a time to think beyond the self and to ask, “What can I do to help?”
Needless to say there are far too many that need our help and attention in these difficult times. While it is fine for the middle class to tell people, “Stay at Home; Stay Safe,” for too many that interprets into a job loss and suspension of income. It’s as tragic as that! And no, I am not against the lockdown because it is the only safety valve we have at the moment. We need to cut the infection rate and the death rates. We don’t need to be told just how fragile our healthcare system in this country and our own state is. The greatest fear of those who run the government is that this fragile system might collapse due to the sheer weight which is far beyond it’s carrying capacity.
The daily number of infections, the rising number of deaths of fairly younger people sends us into panic mode. And while we may put up a brave face so that younger members of our family don’t panic, we’d be lying if we said we said we are stoical about death. The panic is real and after a while comes the panic fatigue. On a given day we are overcome by a variety of emotions and it is draining. So how much more difficult it is for those who are managing the Covid crises up close. Think of the Deputy Commissioners who have to be on their feet and do a damage control by the hour. Suddenly a whole cluster of hamlets test positive and the rush to address that calamity begins only to be told that a second and third cluster needs salvaging. The District Administrators and their team are truly the first respondents in terms of managing not just the health exigencies but the entire economic and commercial eco-system. I am sure they don’t even get a sound sleep at night burdened as they are by the weight of their responsibilities.
The politicians we take for granted and go hammer and tongs at are also as frightened and worried as all of us are. They are as affected by the deaths and infection rates. The young Chief Minister who suddenly has to shoulder such a major responsibility is human too and is liable to slip up. It would be cruel to expect him and the Government to reach out to every corner where people need help. At this juncture citizens too have a responsibility to put their shoulders to the wheel.
Let us place on record our deep gratitude to the doctors and nurses that work tirelessly in Covid wards. This must be the most trying time for them and their families. They must be overwhelmed by panic fatigue. The fear of being carriers of the Covid virus to their families must make them feel vulnerable. What would we do without these angels of mercy and yet we seldom if ever express our gratitude to them. Without these selfless workers the hundreds of Covid patients would have been left unattended.
Yet amidst the encircling gloom, there are heart-warming stories of groups that extend voluntary help to the needy. I know of a professor from NEHU and his wife who have been providing breakfast to the nurses of a private hospital and who aim to do this for a month until someone else takes turn to do so. There are groups that have offered to provide food to Covid patients and their families. There are those doing home delivery of groceries without a profit motive. The list is endless. Yes there is no dearth selfless, humanitarian philanthropists in this city. Some like the Sikh community have quickly converged to provide oxygen langars; others to provide food or medicines or just to arrange ambulances or hospital beds. When Shillong is tested it always rises to the fore.
Those in the Government working round the clock to come up with the best strategies to contain the Covid infection must be fatigued. Yet fatigue is a luxury they can’t afford and I hope we understand that and are more forgiving of lapses for there are bound to be some in this jungle of confusion. The best way forward is to bring an issue to the notice of the district administrators. They will be grateful if a matter of urgency is brought to their notice. Indeed, we have to be the eyes and ears of the government.
In these times the book “Think Again” by Adam Grant affords the reader with the opportunity to gain some learning curves. Grant, an organizational psychologist at Wharton explores what goes wrong when smart people are too righteous and is in favour of intellectual humility. Those in the bureaucracy are there because of their intelligence and skills but often miss out on the chance to relearn and unlearn.
Grant says research finds that the best people at making predictions aren’t those who are smartest but rather those who weigh evidence dispassionately and are willing to change their minds. Similarly, there are maths wizards that excel in interpreting data but only so long as the topic is banal, like skin rashes. Studies found that when these wizards were asked to interpret data on a topic they were passionate about, they blundered. Passion swamped expertise. Grant also found that there are a number of biases at play, including the, “I’m not biased” bias. That’s when we believe we’re more objective than others. This particularly traps intelligent people. Grant says these biases not only prevent us from applying our intelligence but can become a weapon against truth.
In the bureaucracy there is a tendency for linear thinking and for relying on the tried and tested. But Grant says intelligence not only the ability to think and learn but to rethink and unlearn. And this requires another set of cognitive skills. It is of course normal to lean in favour of the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. Often, we listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn. We tend to surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. I say mea-culpa to this! Grant says this makes us too much like preachers defending our sacred beliefs, or legal eagles proving the other side wrong or our politicians campaigning for approval– and too little like scientists searching for truth. Intelligence is not a cure here. On the contrary it can even be a curse. Being good at thinking can make us worse at rethinking. The brighter we are, the blinder to our own limitations we can become. Grant conclusively says, ‘humility is often a more effective persuasive tool.’
The moral if any here is: Every person is capable of thinking outside the box and perhaps providing answers to some of the complex problems staring at us today where what’s tried and tested no longer works.