Page 382 - Volume 2_CHANGES_merged_with links

African Solutions for African Problems

Their country. Their people. Their culture.

When aggression does not solve the original problem, people gradually repress their feelings
(And depending on the specific nature and importance of the original problem can potentially
'regress')

The repressive phase can be exemplified in various ways.
Some people entering this phase will say things like "It doesn't matter. It's not important

anyway". This despite the preceding phases during which there will have been any number
of displays that evidenced that it did matter, that it was important.

It’s an important safety mechanism for humans to be able to regress. People whose
lives are consumed by a major problem or wrong they need put right, will, if they continue to

'bang their heads against a brick wall' in relation to a problem that has no solution. risk
serious adverse effects to their own physical and mental health.

Regressing is a way of coping when all else fails. But of course when large parts of a

population are in a regressive stage then entire societies, entire generations within
societies can become 'accepting' and so lack the will to change, the will to undergo the

'pain' that change can bring.
And the pain of change can be very painful. At times, too painful.

In our UK regeneration projects I and others would come face to face with someone,

and sometimes more than one, who having spent years in drug addiction and all the
direction-less life that accompanies it.

And so we learnt at first hand how the common perception that the biggest obstacle

for a would be ex-drug addict would be the 'cold turkey' phase was a mistaken perception.
The greatest pain comes every day after that. Throughout the years that follow, the ex-drug

addict can see for themselves just how much of their own life they have wasted. They feel

this every time they see other people going on holiday when they can't afford to, or when
they see people buying new curtains for the home they own whereas the ex drug-addict can

only afford to live in a small rented room which, because it is rented cheaply, offers little

opportunity for self-expression.
*****
Many older people, often motivated by their own memories of having struggled with what in
their lives turned out to be a false hope, believe they are doing their own children a favour

by teaching them to "accept".