In 1666 a large fire took place in London. The fire started at night from a bakery and quickly spread to the entire old centre of London, resulting in over 1300 houses, 87 churches, a cathedral and a large portion of a public building being destroyed.
The delay in taking action against the fire was so long that the fire had time to spread in every direction. 70.000 out of the 80.000 inhabitants were left homeless. The economic implications were enormous.
There were several plans to radically rebuild London, created by different architects, which entailed larger boulevards, houses with gaps between them. However, the city was rebuilt after the same plans as before the fire. It was as if they had read Caragiale: ‘I welcome change, but everything should stay the same’.
Presently, humanity is at a turning point. It has been written in recent months about the return to ourselves, redefining values, about what truly matters, about how we will all become better people. We reflect, the same way as the ones who hired the architects to come up with new plans for London.
I myself hoped that we would see a re-evaluation of what matters, the way we do things, of relationships, of ourselves, as people. I still hope, I would not want to lose hope.
But I realise more and more that:
Those who were responsible before the crisis are still responsible now
Those who pretended to do something will continue in the same matter
Those who always walked with a cloud above their heads will not leave space for something good, they will not want to see the sun shining on their street
Those who had a tendency towards introspection will better themselves
Those who did their best to take advantage of something, will continue to look for ways to bend the rules in any way they can
Those who devoted their time, money and energy to help others, will do it again when they will face hardship
However, I also hope there is a middle point, that of people who will find an inspiration during this period, in someone, and will create something to make them rise above their inertia from before the crisis.
I recently read in ‘Immunity to Change’ (by Kegan R., Lahey L.L., Harvard Business Review Press, 2009) about how much or how little we change. A study cited by the authors showed that, when doctors told patients with heart problems that they will die unless they change their habits, only 1 out of 7 followed the advice. Even when it comes to life or death, the ability to change remains vague.
We can change certain aspects about us, the question is: Are we willing to make the effort? Do we wish for our experiences, relationships, what we learn about the world and ourselves, to interact with our human being? Or do we want to behave like a Teflon pan and not allow anything to stick to us? The choice is with us.
