THE EMOTIONAL CHALLENGES IN TIMES OF FEAR, UNCERTAINTY, AND CHAOS

 
Are you feeling overwhelmed these days? Or am I just getting more angsty, being cooped in
more as a result of COVID-19 restrictions? Maybe I am watching too much news, and a lot of it
is not uplifting, more depressing to be precise. I looked deeper into some statistics to gauge the
distress in the general population. In a nutshell, my findings reveal a steady, creeping malaise
into full-blown turmoil in all society segments. There is a pronounced feeling of desolation even
among the younger members of society, hitherto not seen at this level before.
 
Three significant events in the last few years contributed to a worldwide emotional downward
spiral. First, without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic is the event that gave rise to lockdowns,
economic downturns, and jobs crisis. The effect of this disaster is two-fold. It’s a health crisis
because humanity has no immunity to a new ( deadly ) virus, and governments had no choice but
shut down. As in any catastrophe, the struggling working class has taken the brunt of the
downturn.
 
In the Philippines and other developing countries, with little or no recourse to government
handouts, the poor’s anguish is there for the world to see. This pandemic will cost the US $16
trillion, according to Larry Summers, Economist and former Harvard president. The portion of
the cost of Mental Health Impairment is estimated at $1.58 trillion.
 
Second, the ongoing climate crisis causes unprecedented flooding, wildfires, and illnesses
unknown in their current geographical location. It is a fact that new viruses and many insect-
borne parasites result from environmental pressures brought on by climatic shifts. Drought is
creating havoc in areas most in need of food, i.e., Africa and parts of the Middle East. These
disruptive forces are dislocating families, pushing the refugee population to an unprecedented
79.5 million globally. The impoverished and the uneducated in the poverty-stricken parts of the
world typically bear the impact of these disruptions. It is a tragedy for these countries to also be
in the midst of civil and religious wars.
 
Third, the election of Donald Trump brought or exacerbated longstanding and widespread racial
issues. The ascent of white supremacists, the neo-Nazis, the Klan, and other far-right fringe racist

groups is a direct result of Trump’s support of such groups. All these have given rise to factions
that cover society’s marginalized sectors, i.e., people of colour, immigrants, and the poor.
Systemic racism in the US had spilled worldwide.
 
The dormant institutional racism rears its ugly head in Western Europe and other countries,
targeting refugees, visible immigrants, and religious minorities. In the middle of these crises is
the US elections. More polarized than ever, even the most casual observer of this quadrennial
event in the US knows this is not your usual run-of-the-mill event.
In Canada, the non-support (Trump’s approval rating in Canada hovers at 15% ) of the incumbent
causes anxiety about the possibility of his re-election. More importantly, the widespread and
constant degradation of established norms in the process has rattled people who fear that all the
chicanery might tilt the election to Trump.
 
 The disinformation campaign by Russia ( favouring the incumbent ), the constant attempt at
voter suppression ( tailored to muzzle the black and immigrant vote ), intimidation of the voters
by a call of “poll watchers” by the president, and even putting in doubt a smooth transition of
power in the event of his loss are some of the “Hail Mary” moves by the president’s campaign.
The continuing demonization of everything that is Obama and now with a woman of colour VP
candidate Kamala Harris. A not too subtle play on racism. Early on, the president even tried
“birtherism” on Kamala Harris as he did with Obama. Like many of what he does, he throws
mud all over the place and watches what sticks. I have lost track of the most recent count of his
lies after 20,000. He is no longer subtle about these. His rampant dishonesty had earned him a
moniker: “The Lying King.”
 
The president’s moronic preoccupation with conspiracy theories such as The Qanon,( apparently
started by a pig farmer in the Philippines ) The “Unmasking,” the Osama Bin Laden’s killing by
the Seals, and the politicization of the COVID Masks or the Climate Crisis hoax are so baffling
when you consider the thousands who swear by them. We can find insights from Republican
“apparatchik” like Sen Ben Sasse ( R, Neb.) through unguarded musings as to what they think of
Trump and his followers. Any further “eye-rolling” can give me eye problems.
 
As if all these is not enough to rattle the most uninvolved, the death of the beloved Justice
Ginsburg opened up a battle in the Supreme Court. The appointment of another conservative
judge tilts the delicate balance towards orthodoxy. It has opened up a replacement of another
conservative justice and, with it, an SC perilously one-sided. It gives a new life to the pro-lifers (
outlawing abortion ), the anti-LGBTQ, same-sex marriage, and The Affordable Care Act (ending
protection for those with a pre-existing condition ).
 

The Canadian view of the US can be summed up as “America the Pityful,” angry, divided,
and dysfunctional.
 
As they say, when the US sneezes, the rest of the world gets the flu. The chaos that is Donald
Trump has the world order in shambles and accentuated the irregularities in society. Trump is
America’s face to the world. From a Canadian perspective, it is “America the Pityful,” angry,
divided, and dysfunctional (ADD). Almost nothing feels normal anymore, and for the first time,
mental health issues command the attention of the world’s medical community. To characterize
Trump as ” a bull in a china shop” is a tame portrayal of the Neanderthal-in-chief. In the words
of Gen. John Kelly, former Chief of Staff, Trump is “the most flawed person I have ever met,”
essentially repeating the same assessment of all the dozen books written so far about him.
 
The disruption in the rhythm of living and family life saw spikes in suicide; data points to a
worldwide increase, especially among the young. Complementary issues such as hyperactivity,
aggression, and eating disorders are all on the rise. Based on school assessments, there has been
a steady worsening of all the indicators leading to emotional malaise among children. One of the
significant findings points to the universality of the problems, on the increase among the rich and
poor, occurring in all ethnic groups and socio-economic levels.
 
The incidence of depression is on the increase in each succeeding generation and occurring at an
even -earlier age. Isolation, loneliness, and cyberbullying are emerging problems in the advent of
the internet age. Childhood depression has become a standard fixture of the modern era.
Instability in the traditional family, relationship issues, unsupervised parenting, and secularism
have splintered the extended family and caused them to be more vulnerable.
 
Not to be minimized are other risk factors besides the personal failings of effective parenting.
Poverty and impoverished neighborhoods can deliver a massive emotional hit among children.
Crime and drug-infested inner cities leave children anxious and fearful. Drug abuse, alcoholism,
and teen pregnancy are consequences of less than uplifting environments. ( the Philippines has
the second-highest rate of teen pregnancy in SE Asia based on Save the Children’s Global
Childhood Report in 2019 )
 
The educational system is caught flatfooted with the onslaught of mental health issues among the
young. Emotional illiteracy is an epidemic. Schools have overemphasized their traditional roles
as academic facilitators. Reading and math scores have become all-consuming goals. Children’s
subjective well-being lay at the bottom of the educational priorities.
 
        Emotional literacy is a better predictor of success than academic excellence.

 
Early intervention by school and community support can be decisive in arming the children with
skills to weather future challenges in their emotional well being. Key among these is resiliency,
tenacity, and self-confidence. These can go a long way until they can have more control over
their destiny. I have said it before: Emotional skills are better predictors of success than
academic excellence. We cannot depend on luck as to what fate will put us in; many forces that
shape our future may be beyond our control, at least in the early formative years of our lives. We
cannot underestimate the role of the school in our emotional and social competency.
 
One side of emotional literacy that is often overlooked is the role of experiential learning in the
development of our sentient skills. In his book ” The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck”, Mark
Manson’s thesis is not to avoid all the unpleasant inevitability of living – ” that no matter what
you do, life is comprised of failures, loss, regrets…the only way to overcome pain is to first learn
how to bear it”.
 
Manson advises, ” to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears,
faults, and uncertainties and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find courage and
confidence we desperately seek.”
 
     ” Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up
again”
–Nelson Mandela
 
The protective instinct of parents can lead to overparenting. It’s a steep learning curve for many
parents to be counterintuitive in instilling resiliency and perseverance in their children. They
should be allowed to experience drawbacks and failures as part of the learning process. It is
counterproductive to shield the children from the complexities and challenges of living, from
relationships with their peers to the day to day demands of life.
 
How then do we confront these challenges before us?
The same way we would teach our children how to engage them. That is, not to run away, but
face them and learn from them. These challenges never go out. They return in one form or
another. Like an illness, we develop immunity when we fight, adapt, and reconcile. 
Admittedly, governments have many roles in promoting practices that give people a voice in the
governing process.
 
 In Canada, the current government at the outset made sure half of the federal ministers are
women. The number of visible minorities in government is astonishing. In the 2015 Federal

election, 49 MPs ( 14.5 % of the House of Commons ), all visible minorities, were elected to the
House. Many of them are serving in significant ministerial portfolios. Our Chief Public Health
Officer is Chinese ( The Medical Officer of Health for Toronto is Filipino ), Minister of Defence
is Indian Sheik, Minister of Immigration is Somali. A black woman leads the federal Green
Party, and the NDP leader is a turbaned Sheik.
 
It’s a reflection of the Canadian Mosaic and goes a long way in giving a confident voice to
minorities. How many visible minorities are there in the White House? It has never been the
most appropriate name for this icon. Quintessentially American in the age of Trump!