{"id":4812,"date":"2020-07-11T10:34:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T07:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2020-07-11T10:34:34","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T07:34:34","slug":"new-corona-virus-the-transition-from-fear-to-solidarity-is-difficult-but-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/?p=4812","title":{"rendered":"NEW CORONA VIRUS: THE TRANSITION FROM FEAR TO SOLIDARITY IS DIFFICULT, BUT NECESSARY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW\nCORONA VIRUS: THE TRANSITION FROM FEAR TO SOLIDARITY IS DIFFICULT, BUT\nNECESSARY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \nThree months have passed since the strict measures against the COVID-19\npandemic were first implemented in our country. These measures, proposed by the\nappropriate health authorities and legislated by the government, were\nsystematically adhered to by the public. This was a pleasant surprise, because\nas a nation, we are not characterised by obedience and compliance to the laws.\nThis has made us reflect on the reasons why the implementation of these\nmeasures was so successful and why this time the Greek citizens listened to the\ncompetent health authorities and the government. Most people concluded that the success is due to two reasons: a) the\ndecisive action of the government at a very early stage in the outbreak of\nCOVID-19 and, most importantly, b) the fear of getting sick and the strong\ndesire for the continuation of life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \nWe are wondering if this fear and the adherence to the safety measures\nwill also continue beyond the first trimester since the outbreak. We are\nworried that as the spreading of COVID-19 diminishes, the fear of the citizens\nwill also diminish, and they might undertake activities harmful to their own\nhealth and the health of others. People might now just want to satisfy some\nstrong desires that they have put aside during the past three months. We hope\nthat these desires will not prove to be more powerful than the sense of reason\nand self-preservation. If all of a sudden we have a lot of people who no longer\ncare about health safety measures, then we might end up with the reversal of the\npresent positive situation and fall back to the situation we had in March, with\ndetrimental effects. We might even have to re-implement strict emergency\nmeasures again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \nOne way to deal with citizens who are falling back to lax behaviour and\nare not being careful about maintaining high standards of safety, is to remind\nthem of the data, facts and situations from the early stage of the pandemic,\nwhich had instilled fear in them and made them comply. This way of helping resolve the problem of falling back offers us only\na temporary means of controlling the situation; however, if we really want to\nachieve solid and permanent results, we will need to undertake a long and\ndifficult journey. What we will really need to do is to develop a sentiment of\nsocial solidarity. <\/strong>The difference between a) remembering the fear at the\nbeginning of the pandemic and b) building social solidarity, is qualitative,\nwith the second one being much superior to the first. Bringing back the fear and implementing strict measures might\neventually turn the fear into a phobia and create psychological problems. On\nthe other hand, considering cooperation as a social obligation and developing a\nsentiment of societal solidarity towards our fellow citizens is a more\ndifficult route to take, which does not lead to phobias or have any negative\nside effects. <\/strong>The difficulty in adopting social solidarity lies in the fact\nthat in order to achieve that, we first have to put our personal interests\naside and instead focus on our obligation to protect our fellow human beings.\nBy doing this, we are also protecting ourselves from the disease. In addition, we get rewarded by the feeling\nthat we belong to a bigger community, to the society as a whole, and we keep\nour psychological balance, which is of the utmost importance for a good quality\nof life, particularly in times of difficulty.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   We need to reflect on the fact that all\nsocieties which have reached a high standard of civilisation were (and most\ncontinue to be) cohesive societies, and their people were individuals who\nplaced the common good ahead of their own personal interests. In ancient times,\nhuman groups needed to work together in order to face external dangers; they\nalso needed to cooperate, so that they could secure enough food for every member\nof their group. The first examples of cooperation and solidarity between the\nmembers of a social group came from that prehistoric period because of the need\nto meet these primary needs. Even in our times today these basic needs are\nstill met in the same way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defending the borders and\nthe territorial sovereignty of a country is the duty of every nation, which has\nto be based on cooperation, solidarity and the sharing of common ideals among\nthe citizens. In the present corona virus period, the sense of protecting each\nother by having everyone adhering to strict safety health measures is also an\nexpression of social solidarity. This should apply not only to individuals, but\nalso to states who are members of transnational unions and associations. It\nseems that states more and more understand the need for mutual protection from\nthe pandemic, cooperation and solidarity, although there are still a few\nexceptions to the rule. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW CORONA VIRUS: THE TRANSITION FROM FEAR TO SOLIDARITY IS DIFFICULT, BUT NECESSARY    Three months have passed since the strict measures against the COVID-19 pandemic were first implemented in our country. These measures, proposed by the appropriate health authorities and legislated by the government, were systematically adhered to by the public. This was a … \u03a3\u03c5\u03bd\u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b7\u03c2 NEW CORONA VIRUS: THE TRANSITION FROM FEAR TO SOLIDARITY IS DIFFICULT, BUT NECESSARY<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436,392],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2020-main-articles-in-english","category-main-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4812"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4814,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions\/4814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}