What is the whole essence of security? Why does man, whether he is rich or poor, desires to maintain his wellbeing in every situation he finds himself? We can keep asking ourselves about how the safety of a person can be ascertained. Disasters are prone to take away the peace of man in their various forms of occurrence. In ancient times gods are at the center of disaster tales— perhaps no too surprising given the fact that the tales originated during a time when human beings were at the mercy of natural forces they did not understand.
Even today, in the time of high technological advancement, to a great extent, we still are at the mercy of nature. The newspapers and news broadcasts repeatedly confirm to us that the natural forces are still in control. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, wildfires, and floods continue to exact a heavy toll in suffering and death, despite our considerable knowledge of the workings of the physical world. If we confess to have deep knowledge of each of these catastrophes, we find ourselves quite bewildered. What are hurricanes? For the sake definition, they are violent windstorm and we know only that much. As far as the writer is concerned, man knows very little how they happen and function. Earthquakes, for instance, more than the toll it takes, it violently sways fore ward and backward, from side to side causing great destructions to buildings, railroads, the infrastructures that man has constructed for amenities of life; so do other devastating natural forces. There is little man has done to stop them to ensure his security or wellbeing. All we know is that those who survived are moved to other areas free from the effect the destruction. One thing we know for sure is that man can locate and identify the impact of the magnitude of the earth quack and perhaps the time it can occur. But no record shows when man stopped it before it caused damage. It is the retroactive measure than the proactive one; by the time the possible measures are taken, the damage has already been done. If science has offered only limited protection from the consequence of natural disasters, it has in no way diminished our fascination with them. It is too late for any absolute redeeming move.
Despite all the precautions taken to avoid situations that threaten the security of individuals, there is always a crack that can usher in the inevitable. If for instance, in spite of all the security measures in place, an individual or a team scales a fence and into the Olympic village where hundreds of athletes are gathered a man knocks on the door and sprays bullets on the athletes residing in that particular room. Such act is nothing other than terrorism striking fear into the group. Everywhere one turns to, a person or a group threatens to commit acts of violence. The perpetrators, in the end, hope to achieve political goals, such as changing conditions in a society or even overthrowing a government.
They may have short-term goals to demand money ransom while the long-goals could be much more ambitious, which the concerned bodies should seriously consider before the situation gets out of control. On the other hand, the situation may not be as alarming as it appears to be. Nevertheless, it still takes away the security of the people.
People set out from their homes in the morning with the hope to carry out their daily business without any kind of fear that anything will happen to them. They believe that all people around them are supposedly law-abiding and God-fearing citizens. The police force is vigilantly watching every movement of the people to maintain law and order. Yet, some kind of attack can take place to an individual suddenly. Disturbances can break out anytime, anywhere endangering the security of the innocent citizens. Pub houses, for instance, where people frequent to break away from the routines of the busy day, can be rocked by the vicious acts of some unruly drunkards or villains. Those, who are out for simple purpose of entertainment, can be exposed to the life-threatening acts of the thugs. The randomness of an attack is an important goal of bringing fear to, and undermining the sense of security of large number of people, who realize that by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they too could be victims.
Indeed, such act is more about affecting the audience than about harming the actual victims. If we raise this situation to the level of terrorists, we see that they often contact newspapers or TV stations and claim responsibility for their attacks, warning that the simple act of violence will be committed unless some demands are met. In this manner, sometimes, the security of individuals can
be robbed suddenly and even by inflicting physical assault, out of the blue, for which the victims are not prepared. Such acts make it more difficult for government or law enforcement agencies to defeat such ones if they are in large numbers and threatening people in many places frequently. It is easier to capture a single terrorist or a small group and guarantee the security of the people. Such ones cannot directly confront the armed forces; they simply are not large enough or powerful enough. Even the people, in self-defense can put the situation under control without calling for the assistance of the law enforcing agencies. At this point an utmost precaution needs to be taken; otherwise the situation can turn out to become a social crisis of a larger scale.
To have broad view of the situation, the movies would have us believe that most terrorists are fanatical Arabs mixed up in obscure politics of the Middle East; that is not true. It is worldwide phenomenon, and even the United States, one of the most stable and secured country has experienced terrorism over the years. To cite just one example out of the numerous ones, in the 1950s, two Puerto Rican terrorist tried to shoot their way into the house where President Harry Truman was living. Their goal was to kill the president and force the United States to grant independence to Puerto Rico. Insecurity never makes distinctions between people. Whether the person is rich or poor, he is vulnerable to evil consequences of the catastrophe. High educational standard cannot be the guaranty for enjoying the fruits of security. Perhaps education, to some extent can assure to maintain job security.
Apparently, it is relative as there are various other conditions that can determine the certainty of getting a job: one, being equipped with a relevant knowledge for that particular type of job. Second, nepotism, where the manager of the company may not be in favor of the job seeker because he does not belong to his group in spite of the excellent academic credentials. Third, political affiliation assures the job security of the applicant as long he is considered reliable to further the policies of the politics despite the irrelevance of educational background. In this case, what matters is loyalty, not ability. The situation has its own aftermath of inadequate performance causing a failure of achieving the objects of projects the firm which thereby results in immeasurable financial loss. Employees gathered in such system will become time bomb waiting to explode in due course unexpectedly. It will be too late to stop the blast before it causes destruction.
In the third world, citizens suffer from lack of the provision of social security especially when one is out of work or unable to work and earn living due to health reasons or physical or mental disabilities. This system is to ensure the minimum individual’s basic needs- food, shelter and clothing. It is the opinion of the writer that social security should not be confused with pension for which the individual has paid income tax during his active years. The presence of lack of security manifests itself in various forms and degrees: social, economic or political. To crown it all, COVID-19 has unprecedentedly escalated the insecurity of the human race globally.
The Ethiopian Herald July 31/2020
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
