Self-Preservation in The Plague

Thursday’s conversation made me think in depth about inevitability. We talked about whether or not, with a greater understanding of science and medicine, the rats could have been exterminated before they infected the entire population. Even if the appropriate scientific measures had been taken, the people of Oran seem so enraptured by their monotonous lives that they most likely would not have reacted quickly enough to stop the spread.

This links directly into the townspeople’s blindness to their own crisis. Often times, people only acknowledge issues when they are directly affected by them. Currently, I am sitting at my computer, writing a post for a class. At the same time, children in Uganda are being abducted and forced to fight as soldiers. While I am aware of the issue, I am in no way actively attempting to save these children. This summer, when I move to Zambia to work in an HIV clinic and lab, I will be in much closer contact with the tragedies of a third world county. Surely, when confronted with the issue, I will be more active in trying to help.

This inherent blindness seems to be equal parts denial and equal parts self-preservation. If we emotionally broke down every time we heard sad news that alarmed us, we wouldn’t be functional as individuals. Part of being human is being selfish and being fit enough to survive. While this inability to act can result in our deaths (like in “The Plague”), it can also be the very trait that saves us evolutionarily.