Satisfaction with life, and fear

Are you more satisfied with life than you were in 2006?

According to the results from the polls of  Latin American Public Opinion Project, more people in Guyana are satisfied with their lives in 2014 than in 2006.



Perhaps people did not want to admit that they were not content because contentment is supposed to be a good factor in mental health and wellness.

It could have meant saying that all the effort spent in doing things and in money spent and in investing was futile. Or it could mean that people have found ways to thrive like lotus flowers in the mud.

In the film , Shawshank Redemption, there is a man who tried to kill another man so he could stay in prison because the thought of leaving was too much. He hanged himself soon after his release. Not all prisoners are like that.

It might be possible to be satisfied with life in Guyana as a way of maintaining sanity.  So it means adjusting to the rubbish, and the fear of floods, and the corruption and the decisions made to dehumanise Guyanese rather than to increase our humanity.

Last week I went and did a picket because I was afraid. It was satisfying that I could pat myself on the back that I did the picket. I do not know if anything changed though except that I was even more scared about how there is this expectation of who pickets and who vigils and how this has now turned into some kind of normal thing.
One or two media people were surprised at me when I said no, no.. I did not want to do the media thing, not because I was scared of identifying with the Anil Must Go, but it was that I had to be sure that I was avoiding the narcissism and that I could find some balance which brings attention to the persons who had never come to a picket before and who were there for the first time.
I am scared that in the absence of seeing social change, that I am satisfied with social media likes and shares and that I have lost the art of dealing with issues without personalising them, even though it is sometimes important to personalise them.

So while people were raging at the injustice of the killing, I was agonising over visibility vs celebrity .  And that I was dealing with those questions instead of other questions which could build innovative solutions to other problems in life which relate to my technical training.

I am terrified if Guyanese are satisfied with the inequities and have grown used to the destruction of the environment around them. I do not know if Guyanese who are satisfied also feel that they are doing something - only a small percent of the LAPOP respondents said that ever participated in any kind of protest.

I am scared that people's satisfaction with life means that they do not care about what happens around them. I have promised to hold myself accountable for my actions and not judge anyone else's. However,  it is messed up that I am scared of peoples' satisfaction with their lives and that the changes will have to be more difficult. There might be other explanations.