The arrogant nature of human beings when facing calamities

12th of Ramadhan 1441 Hijriah (5th May 2020) (late post)

One inherent trait that every human being has is arrogance. In which he feels that he is better than everyone else. Of course the levels of arrogance differ from person to person, and it can even be suppressed through spiritual training and enlightenment. However, for the common person, arrogance will almost always be present within him. 

Arrogance can lead to challenging other people’s ideas and opinions without giving adequate effort to properly think or ponder about them; including challenging ideas, opinions and even rules from higher authorities, which can potentially lead to chaos in society. Many even challenge rules that were made to protect society. This is apparent in our current pandemic situation, where many people choose to disregard the rules of social/physical distancing that the government has issued, even though the hospitals all around the country are filling up quickly beyond their capacity. Some even challenge the virus itself, claiming that they are not afraid of it.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic “officially” reached Indonesia, several Indonesian Government officials, jovially dismissed the possibility of the COVID-19 entering Indonesia. In one instance, an official jokingly said that Indonesians consume “cat rice,” which makes them immune to the virus. In another joke, an official mentioned that the COVID-19 virus cannot enter Indonesia due to the difficulties of the paperwork of entering into the country. There are 37 instances in which the Indonesian Government officials arrogantly dismissed the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic. After 2 months, 12,000+ COVID-19 infections, and almost 1,000 dead, those jokes seem more and more absurd and unclassy. The Indonesian Government has a lot of ground to cover in order to fix the situation.

Challenging calamities due to arrogance is not a novelty. Many have done so in the past. It is also mentioned in religious traditions. In the Quran, in the beginning of Juz (part) 12, there were people who challenged God by asking for the calamity that was promised to them. And as with many of us, when calamity is diverted from them, they were in the state of negligence (of God’s mercy). Furthermore, when good things happen to them, they completely take God out of the equation, emphasizing on how they achieved the good that they experience. 

When we are faced with calamity (as with our current pandemic situation), we should always remember God and keep our humility before Him, hoping that the calamity will be diverted from us soon. Not only that, we also need to keep our humility with the authorities, who are doing their best to make things better (at least some of them are). In the current condition, being arrogant and acting according to one’s whims and desires will only make things even worse.

-Fendrri-

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