Why Can’t We Fix Problems?
Why do we (the US or the world) have so many serious problems that we can’t seem to fix? I’ve been asking this question for several years now. However, when something as basic as upgrading our infrastructure is kicked down the road over and over again, it probably should be no surprise that we can’t deal with bigger issues like climate change or pandemics.
Our biggest problem is conflict. At the core of the unresolved, life-threatening issues facing humanity is our terrible ineptness at dealing constructively with conflict.
The pandemic certainly revealed our human ineptness in this regard. Even as 700,000 people in the US alone died from COVID, the conflict surrounding our health security remains unresolved.
Regardless of which problem it is, we are bogged down in conflicts over such things as whether the problem is really a problem — or not, whose fault it is, who should fix it, and how it should be fixed. We’re literally drowning in conflicts. It paralyzes us from taking the first step. We spend so much time arguing that we never get around to fixing the problems themselves.
I also contend that for many people conspiracy theories have become the go-to explanation for why we have these problems in the first place.
These readily available theories appeal to the emotions. Conspiracy theories are a bane unto themselves when it comes to fixing problems, however. They can remain unproven but influential for decades. They rarely offer solutions but inpede the progress of any sensible solutions being offered. They create intense emotional responses when remaining logical is the best way to approach problem solving.
Humans tend to be reactionary rather than logical, however. In spite of our best attempts to solve problems, our big brains more often than not respond to emotional content rather than factual information. It becomes an even more dismal outlook when we get caught up in the conspiracy theory loop.
What does all of this mean for us?
At best, we’ll continue to relentlessly kick solutions to problems down the road and at worst the problems that are demanding our attention will destroy us.
I don’t know why I was surprised that the death of 700,000 people from COVID resulted in conflict rather than cooperation.
After all, I realized at a very young age that something supposedly as sacred as the family unit can be a toxic even lethal environment for unresolved conflict. I’ve often said that all one needs to do is study the family to understand how humans interact, solve problems, and cooperate on a community, national, or even world level. The dynamics are one and the same. There’s a reason why the divorce rate is so high. People don’t easily resolve conflict even with those they claim to love.
Our conflict resolution skills are deeply flawed.
We resort to the most basic emotionally driven actions. The fact that we still easily engage in war after centuries of warring which usually led to more conflict rather than resolutions is a disturbing realization. We are merely cavemen with cell phones, technologically advanced but socially stunted.
So we’ll continue to have unnecessary COVID deaths, war, more climate related devastation, and maybe even a crumbling infrastructure.
Until we can deal constructively with finding solutions to our problems, most attempts at trying to do so will end in conflict rather than solutions.
Teresa Roberts is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. Her books can be found on Amazon.
