Security

What do we place our security in? There have been so many experiences and incidents in my life that have given me doubt at particular times and reassurance at others.

My life is unique, just like everyone else’s; so needless to say, my special characteristics and understandings are nothing new and not so special. Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say people are not individuals.

But perhaps this is why our parents and people older than us commonly caution or reprove us, why older, more-experienced colleagues admonish younger novice associates, or why more talented veteran teammates exhort beginning, untried teammates.

We all share so many similarities, one of the biggest being our yearning for security.

We all possess or pursue something that holds our security. For us, university students, it is evident, just by the very fact that we are at an institution of higher formal education, that we have this desire.

But what is security?

What does it mean to possess or pursue security? According to dictionary.com, security means “safety; well-founded confidence; freedom from harm, anxiety, or doubt.”

So, in essence we just want to be at peace, free from worry or concern for the immediate present or future.

Different people have placed their security in different areas of life such as wealth, careers, family,  relationships, possessions, talents, aspirations, knowledge, experience or themselves.

These things may not be good or bad things in and of themselves, but something about us seems to taint or take these qualities and turn them around on themselves so that they become the prime product of our lives instead of a by-product.

We turn them into the security that gives us our safety, confidence and peace.

It is interesting to note that when we say security, what we are really saying is lack of care; “securus” comes from latin, meaning apart from care. It may be sad or pessimistic to say, but this is eventually how we turn after a long time of having or pursuing whatever we think may secure and satisfy us.

This is why we have to take breaks, why we have to go on extended sabbaticals, why we go on vacation, why we attempt different things and why we are not satisfied even when we have tried it all and done it all.

The time cap or cut off point never aligns perfectly with our plans, and while this may be an admirable quality of ambition, this motivation gradually develops into a false security and soon into a lack of genuine care.

Perhaps, all this may be a false assumption, but we can test it. Check yourself the next time you do anything, especially the thing you have placed your security in.

What was the motivation behind it?

Was it for the very act itself?

Did you do that project for the joy of research and exposition?

Did you go to that meeting for the delight of assembly and discourse?

Did you pick up your friend for the satisfaction of going out of your way and waiting?

Did you buy that object for the ecstasy of cherishing or admiring that possession?

Perhaps these are just trivial questions, or perhaps they will reveal something about the nature of how we possess or pursue our security.

Perhaps then we will lift up our faces and be secure so that our safety comes from the words, “And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security.”