Insecurity—A Global Disease

DO YOU at times feel that your life and life-style are vulnerable and uncertain? You are not alone. Millions of people feel that way. Unchecked by national, religious, or social barriers, insecurity spreads like a disease, afflicting people from Moscow to Manhattan.

When our life is insecure, we are, according to one dictionary, “beset by fear and anxiety.” Anxiety is an emotional burden that produces stress, which can impair our health. But why do we feel anxious and insecure?

Anxieties in Europe

Within the European Union (EU), 1 person in 6 lives below the poverty line, 18 million are out of work, and countless others live in fear of losing their jobs. In several EU lands, parents are horrified at the threat to their children that is posed by pedophiles. In one EU country, 2 people out of 3 are anxious about the threat of crime. Other EU residents feel increasing alarm because of vandalism, terrorism, and pollution.

Life and livelihood are at risk not only because of such social aberrations but also because of natural disasters. For example, in 1997 and 1998, torrential rains, mud slides, and tornadoes devastated parts of the United States. In 1997, floods struck Central Europe when the Oder and Neisse rivers burst their banks. According to the Polish weekly Polityka, huge areas of agricultural land were inundated, as well as 86 cities and towns and some 900 villages. About 50,000 households lost their crops, and almost 50 people lost their lives. And mud slides in early 1998 killed scores in southern Italy.

A Matter of Personal Security

But are we not assured that life is more secure than it was ten years ago? Did not the end of the Cold War mean a scaling down of armed forces? Yes, national security may have improved. Personal security, however, is affected by what happens in the home and on the street. If we lose our job or if we suspect that a mugger or a pedophile is lurking outside, then no matter how many weapons are dismantled, we feel anxious and insecure.

How are some people coping with the uncertainty of life? Even more important, is there a way of making everyone’s life—yours included—permanently secure? These points will be considered in the following two articles.

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UN PHOTO 186705/J. Isaac

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FAO photo/B. Imevbore