The worrier, the healthier
Nitsu Abebe, in one of his articles, wrote: “We are not in the midst of real disaster, of course: No Civil War, no Great Depression, not even that grim bit of the 1970s. Nonetheless, 18 percent of people are experiencing actual anxiety disorders in any given year and Xanax has eclipsed Prozac as the emblem of the national mood. It is more like an economic anxiety in fear of the unknown. New technologies are introduced on a daily basis shaking out consumers’ lives as they keep panting to keep up with them. With Donald Trump’s unexpected rise, anxiety took a more political turn with his so many electoral promises that all share concerns about fears of possible bad consequences that might and might not happen.”
Abebe also added, “the poor do not have financial concerns because they do not have enough money in the first place. They suffer from poverty while the middle class have concerns of descending down social classifications to join the lower ones and once they are down there, such concerns may vanish unless the worst happens or is expected.”
Well, what about the Arabian Gulf? Our concerns (that is if we are still culturally healthy and have any) will not have the same reasons of those of 18 percent of the world’s mightiest power. Our concern is subject to what the state decides because the good old days before 2014, which marked the fall of oil prices, have gone and our countries are currently living on previous savings; which is a huge concern in itself.
For instance, concerns might be normal as long as citizens have nothing to say about their present or future, and as long as administrations claim to know what is best for us and do not want to share such decisions with us.
Today’s concerns can be summed up as ‘it is high time’ because the political administration’s performance calls for further concerns since it is still running things as before; giving generously to certain groups and allowing individuals to misuse their official positions without fear of accountability. In addition, the repeated criticism published in papers is not much useful. Aren’t those reasons enough for anxiety?