The Blame Game
Complaining and Blaming
The IFRC Reference Center for Psychosocial Support published an article in 2021 called "Common Reactions to Distressing Situations and Extreme Stress." In this article, the authors delineated the common reactions produced in distressing situations and extreme stress.
Physical reaction: body pain, tiredness, stomachache, headache, difficulty sleeping (including experiencing nightmares), difficulty falling and staying asleep, low or high levels of energy, shakiness, fast heartbeat, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, and changes in appetite.
Mental reaction: Difficulty concentrating, losing track of time, difficulties making decisions or solving problems, difficulties remembering things, feeling like you are reliving the event/situation over and over in your mind.
Emotional reaction: Anxiety, fearfulness, nervousness or panic, afraid the situation might happen again, feeling down or sad, numbness, feeling disconnected and detached from the world and/or people around you, feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment, anger, hopelessness, irritability.
Interpersonal reaction: Withdrawn, feeling that no one understands, conflict with others.
Behavioral reaction: Impulsivity, avoiding things that are reminders of the situation, not wanting to talk about it, alcohol or substance abuse. 1
According to the experts who wrote this article, these five common reactions are shown by people in distressing situations and emotional distress. This raises a few more questions, such as why this research was presented and what its relevance is to the Raizal People who live in the San Andres, Old Providence, and Ketleena archipelago.
The reason for these questions is that, during this crisis, the Raizal People are living on their territory. Instead of working together to solve their problems. Unfortunately, they're just complaining and blaming (pointing fingers).
It's interesting because it's the same reaction the Israelites had with Moses during a crisis that led them to complain and blame Moses. They pointed the finger at Moses for getting them out of Egypt. They've been enslaved and mistreated in Egypt. They were working like slaves. After Moses and his brother led them out of that awful situation. The first crisis they faced, they started complaining and pointing the finger at Moses and Aaron.
People are basically the same now as they were in the past.
Take a look at the Israelites posture during their first crisis, when they were freed from Egyptian enslavement.
“As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the LORD, and they said to Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness?’ Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!”2
It's amazing that they'd rather die as slaves in Egypt than go out into the wilderness and try to be free. It was a place that lacked all the conveniences and comforts that Egypt had to offer.
So, it's no surprise they're out there publicly complaining and blaming Moses. It's almost like Moses forced them. They asked for help to be free from Egyptian slavery. The help arrived and they were free, but the first tough situation and emotional stress caused them to lash out at each other. They complained and blamed Moses for bringing them into the wilderness. They'd rather die as slaves in Egypt.
The Raizal people's reaction to their current crisis is similar to the reaction of the Israelites during a stressful and emotional crisis. They're pointing fingers and complaining to each other instead of working together to solve their current crisis.
Recently, a group of Raizal public servants has come together to defend collectively couple Raizals facing expropriation of their lands by the SAE, in a great example of unity and solidarity. It is important that these types of actions continue to be carried out jointly. It is important to continue working together and avoid pointing fingers at each other.
The idea of working together to protect the Raizal territory does not mean you will ignore each other's wrongdoings. Instead of blaming and criticizing, you take steps to fix the problems and move forward together.
So, stop blaming each other and start working together for the good of the Raizal territory.
https://pscentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/common_reactions_to_stress.pdf
Exodus. 14:10-12.