It’s not Personal - It’s a Systems Failure

​When I first heard that Covid-19 was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a global pandemic, my training in Warm Data came into gear. “How we think our way through the mess we’re in, when the way we think is part of the mess?” - Nora Bateson, International Bateson Institute (IBI). Warm data allowed me the opportunity to understand a problem from different angles of a system at play, recognising the inter dependencies of different contexts, within a system. So, in everyday language what that means is billionaire Technocrat Bill Gates views the world from  technology/economy contexts and that technology has all the answers. So, his widely reported influence on WHO declaring it a pandemic after considerable donations to assist them, was not ideal because it does not recognise the inter dependencies of other contexts such as culture, education, health, politics, and economy within a system. Subsequently, when a uniform response is proposed by WHO dominated by a technology context of vaccines, lock downs, sanitisers and masks, which may work in western dominated cultures, who have access to vaccines and sanitisers and masks and live-in individual dwellings and can access a supermarket. But for a big chunk of the world’s population who live off subsistence agriculture and need to have communal food exchange to survive and feed their families this pandemic response for them has been disastrous.

When we view the pandemic from the context of health, our doctors, and nurses on the front line, who have families that are also in lock down with the support of scientific evidence are our go to for their health and care. However, when senior Health officials state- ‘always wear your mask and don’t start a conversation with people who you may run into when grocery shopping or exercising’. This response may be effective to limit transfer of any virus, however keeping in mind we touch products in the shopping process which cannot be cleaned before someone else touches it? So, when viewed from the context of community, for people living on their own, that may be the only conversation that person has all week- this response of their neighbour ignoring or limiting their interaction with someone who is already feeling isolated could be disastrous for their mental health and well being- the irony of the lock down and that it’s for our health does not escape me. The response to the pandemic of non-consultative predominantly political lack of consultation with education, community, health (we have never seen the health advice- just the political interpretation of this advice) all the contexts within the system it operates. Highlighting the lack of understanding of seeing the system as interdependent contextual relationships - hence not being able to see the forest from the trees, analogy comes to mind. This lack of understanding and respect for the interdependent relationships between these contexts, can be disastrous and will impede the objective of protecting and keeping the people safe. It’s also not conducive to living a human existence.
 
From an educational context, the home-schooling when children are being forced to learning online, that may be Ok for a child who has access to the technology and their parents are able to work from home and home school. But for struggling families who need to make a choice do we pay rent, food, or technology for school, I’m pretty sure needs of shelter and food are prioritised. Our schools must manage providing support for learning in both an online capacity and have limited staff at the schools for children of essential workers. The teachers (who also have families in lock down) continue to teach the curriculum meanwhile students see the dominance of technology in isolation, disconnection from friends and possibly family and from their communities which give them a sense of identity and belonging. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs identifies shelter, food and then social interaction as an essential element of being human. Just like if we took a lion from the wild, and placed it in a cage enslaved to perform for humans,  it is no longer a lion but a performing enslaved animal.
 
On a personal note, I have struggled during the lock downs, and I am privileged enough to be able to exercise living close to the beach(ecology), I am able to work from home(economy), I live with my (family), I am not going to lose my business or worry about how to feed my family and if I can pay the rent. Those needs are being met, however my social needs of my friends and connecting with them (community) and sharing my experiences face to face (identity) and with a deeper connection (spirituality) and physical contact recognising that it was a much-needed part of my life (culture). I’m also completing my postgraduate studies online (technology/education) and can practice my self-care in nature (ecology). Hence, this privilege affords me the vision to see that the system is broken, as certain contexts do not recognise that they are interdependent on other contexts or that they are part of a system. So, what should we do? Well, we can start by recognising that we operate and live in a dynamic system that has contexts interdependent on one another and the links between these contexts are broken. Hence we begin mending the relations and understandings between these contexts, building bridges and two way communications - that would be a good place to start, because it’s not personal it’s a system’s failure.

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