DON'T WORRY, IT WON'T HAPPEN

On September 16, 1909, W.B. Yeats wrote in his journal, ‘When I think of all the books I have read, wise words heard, anxieties given to parents, ... of hopes I have had, all life weighed in the balance of my own life seems to me a preparation for something that never happens.’

That singular journal entry has been quoted many times over and nothing much has changed and we are left in a quandary. Well, in most cases things do happen as expected but then again you have the occasional instance where you spend a lot of time worrying about something that never materialises in the end. Worse still if you have spent much money preparing for it.

I had the opportunity to visit the Hospital in the Rock in Budapest and this is one classic example of human wisdom or folly depending on how you wish to see it.

This is a hospital created in the caverns under the Buda Castle in the 1930s, in anticipation of the Second World War. It is part of an approximately 10 km stretch of interconnected caves and cellars.

The hospital was used during the 1944- 45 siege of Budapest. Many of the wounded were treated here and the dead were carried out at night and buried in bomb craters. The next instance where the hospital was used once more, was in 1956 in response to the uprising against Soviet rule.

                    

However, it was also built as a top secret military hospital and nuclear bunker. Between 1958 and 1962, it was expanded to withstand nuclear fallout during the Cold War.

As a nuclear bunker, it must  cope with the under pressure that lasts for several seconds after the shock waves, and block radiation. The bunker must also accommodate equipment for air conditioning and heating, water supply and storage, generators, and also many types of radio and telecommunications equipment.

Imagine the amount of money spent on the project and the number of man hours involved in planning and building it? It was never used for this purpose.

Experts agree that  85% of what we worry about never happens. But then again, common sense tells us it is better safe than sorry. We do not want to be caught unprepared and neither do we want to be left looking foolish.

Another more recent phenomenon occurred around the time when we entered the new millennium. There was a lot of fear then that there would be major life changes with the interruption of essential supplies.

They called it the Y2K. We were afraid to lose everything as the clock struck midnight entering day one of the new millennium. We were afraid that computers would shut down and all forms of energy supply would be disrupted.

So we were all encouraged to buy ‘survival kits’ that comprised of cream crackers, instant noodles, water purifier tablets, toiletries and a whole host of other things. Some families bought boxes of such kits as they braced themselves for the worst. These

were usually families with young children and I knew of one family that bought 400 boxes. I didn’t buy any and just waited to see the outcome. I wasn’t particularly fond of cream crackers and instant noodles anyway.

Well, nothing that was feared happened, further proving that hindsight is 20/20 vision.

The crackers and noodles had a shelf life and thus were donated to orphanages. I suspect many just dumped the water purifier tablets.

A random search about the future on the web will result in bad news and more bad news. From monetary market collapse to WW3. Strategies to counter the effects of hard times range from ensuring that one’s financial affairs are in order to developing a survivalist mindset.

The question is how far should we plan for the unknown or the unexpected?

Indeed, we need the wisdom of Solomon to answer this.

This article was originally printed in the NEW STRAITS TIMES MALAYSIA http://digital.nstp.com.my/nst/books/160417nstnews/index.html#/23/