The Tragedy of the Commons

Being born into this world means that we have to survive and whether we like it or
not, we’re going to face difficult situations every now and then. From the very start, it’s our
instinct to survive and essentially, we do that by looking for food. The situation here is when
we were born, we are infants with no strength to prepare for our own food. Since we are
incapable of doing things for us and at the same time we're striving to live, we would cry and
whine as much as we want for us to hear by our mother or guardian. By then, when she hears
us, the first thing she will think is we might be hungry, she will then give us food through
breastfeeding or formulas to satisfy our need. As time goes by, we continue with our lives and
we still look for our biological needs. Where do we get these from? Well, we get these by
working and using all the resources we have in the environment. This is what we're doing
now and as we get old; we'll still do it. We must look for resources that’ll give us our basic
needs in living.

With having the mindset of surviving, all people will look for resources that will
benefit them in life but to the extent of excluding others. It means to say that, we just tend to
get all the things we want and need without considering other people. This could lead to
disaster and that's how the tragedy of the commons play the part. This concept makes me
more interested in understanding it more deeply. The situation tells me that the tragedy is an
economical problem to the society. To think that each people want goods for their own so they
purchase a lot, and those common mindsets can make goods be sold out in a snap of time.
During the announcement of quarantine due to COVID-19, a lot of people went on panic-
buying. They went to supermarkets and groceries. They bought many stocks of food and
anything that’ll be much of help during quarantine. Since, we all want to survive in this on-
going pandemic, we’ll try to stuff our home with all the important things we need. These
decisions weren't made by just one person but it actually crosses the mind of everyone and
that leads to goods being out-of-stock in the market. As far as I remember, face masks and
alcohols are in demand that time and almost all stores have sold it all out. To be honest, I can
relate to people who bought lots of face masks and alcohols. Since they knew that people will
eventually buy a lot of these products, they anticipated the upcoming situation. They went
out of their way and bought many face masks and alcohol. Sadly, for me, I've got left out and
I’d just used the mask sewn for me by my mom and just washes my hand with safeguard.
Due to this, it came to my mind that the advantageous side here are those people who
purchased a lot, store owner, factory owner and all the people higher than them. They've got
themselves a peace of mind since they don't have to worry on the upcoming days of
quarantine without face masks and alcohols, and also the owners got themselves a high
amount of sales. On the other hand, this is not good for the people who are unfortunate. They
can't even purchase the most basic need which is food and now that they don't have the things
needed for quarantine, they’d became resourceful and used what they have at home. For face
masks, they can sew their own or use handkerchiefs while for alcohol, they can just wash their
hands with soap and water. Thankfully, there are donations that happened and that helped
people so much.

When I've analyzed the situation that happened during the pandemic, I realized that
there couldn't possibly a simple solution to this. I can't just announce through social media
that they shouldn't panic-buying because first of all, the money they use to buy those things
aren't mine in the first place. I've also realized that it is in the nature of people to be greedy,
maybe all the time or just when they feel like they shouldn't be deprived. The tragedy of the
commons tells me that the nature of a person can damage the economy of the world.
Thankfully, when it comes to large-scale problems involved, governments are initializing
programs that can help minimize the damage and I think it is a pretty big deal. We all know
that production of resources is limited and if we all abused it to the limit, we will be in a way
much worse situation. Knowing that, we must study and research on these aspects and make
moral decisions. We should act as one in saving our environment and we shall be saved too.

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