According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a person’s physiological needs (food, clothing, shelter) need to be fulfilled before they can move up the pyramid towards self-actualisation. On this pyramid there are five levels, the aforementioned being the lowest before it moves up to the next level of safety and security, the one up from that being love and belonging, the one above it being everything connected to a person’s self-esteem, and the apex of the pyramid being self-actualisation or the achievement of one’s full potential.
In the West, most of us are lucky enough to have the bottom three levels covered. Think about it. If you’re here, and you’re reading this, in all likelihood, your tummies are full, you have enough clothes to wear, and a roof over your head. You are also probably in a safe environment, and have at least one person who loves you (I hope). The top two levels are also within your reach. You might have job satisfaction, and if not that, you may well have hobbies you love and that fulfil you in some manner. If not, you have the option of changing jobs and developing new connections and interests. As for achieving your full potential, highlighted at the top level of the pyramid, that may or may not be something you aspire to. But, it is certainly within your reach should you choose to go there.
Now, let’s think of the other half of the world. Think of the people who are scrambling to get a foothold on that bottom level. The ones who don’t know where their next meal will come from, how long the clothes on their backs will last, where they will sleep the night, and whether they will be safe where they are. Think of the people fleeing Afghanistan, think of the refugees anywhere in the world willing to walk thousands of miles, hang off the undercarriages of planes or swim in shark-infested waters. Think of how far they are from that top level on the pyramid.
As someone who grew up in the East, and had a privileged upbringing, then moved to the West and have a very comfortable life, I never forget how fortunate I am, and what a small percentage of the world’s population I really belong to. “There, but for the grace of God, go I” was something I often heard my mother say when I was growing up. It is a remark that resonates strongly, and even more so, at a time like this.
Immigrants are often looked down upon because they aren’t fluent in the nation’s language, often live in squalid conditions, and do not have the funds to live aspirational lifestyles, at least not when they first arrive. How few of us think of just how much they’ve gone through to get here. How, for them, self-actualisation is an alien concept, survival being the primal need. Yet, ironically, within a generation or two, the descendants of these immigrants are often the first to point fingers at those who ask for their basic needs to be fulfilled.
There is more than enough in this world for us all to have the first three levels of human needs, as outlined in the pyramid, to be realised. Yet, greed and power create chasms of inequities, reducing humans to little more than animals, fighting for survival while the rest of us turn a blind eye, or worse, judge them as our inferiors purely because of the accident of birth or circumstance.
There is an old Hindu proverb that goes:
“Help thy brother’s boat across and lo! Thine own has reached the shore.”
Let us, within whatever our capacity may be, help and not judge; be compassionate and not indifferent. Then, perhaps, our fellow man may reach the pinnacle of that pyramid, raising all of humanity alongside.
