A few years ago I was asked to give an impromptu lecture to
a group as part of a university interview. I randomly chose the topic of “Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs”. I asked the group to imagine themselves as consultants
asked to motivate members of an organization called SAMAH. I then took the
group through the theory put forth by Abraham Maslow that said, in essence,
that a person is motivated by needs, which, when satisfied, ceased to be a
motivator. He created a hierarchy of needs which was later expanded to 5
levels: survival, security, socialization, self-esteem, and ultimately
self-actualization.
The audience was then led through scenarios that showed them
that the person who was worried about food, clothing, and shelter was not very
likely to be motivated by a safe environment. As a matter of fact he would
probably engage in risky, unsafe activities in order to provide that much
needed survival. That is precisely why the very poor are willing to steal to
survive. Hunger is a potent motivator for much of the world.
Because our fictitious SAMAH organization has grander
designs, they make sure that their members are adequately provided for with
housing and an income. Security is then provided for the members of SAMAH with
armed guards on every street corner. If you are a member of SAMAH you feel well
protected by the organization; as a matter of fact you feel so comfortable that
you begin to hang out with the members and consider them your friends. You now
have reached a level that you are really feeling good about yourself and your
self-esteem is peaking.
It is at that point, where the SAMAH member feels he has
really arrived in the organization that he is asked to really leave his mark on
the world. Ideas of public adoration and honor begin floating in his head along
with suggestions that God has called him for a profound task. That call for
self-actualization gives the person the ultimate call for purpose in living –
or dying. After all everything else has been taken care of; what more is there
to achieve? HAMAS has obviously used this strategy successfully in Israel and
we see the same suicide bomber mentality emerging elsewhere and we have to ask
ourselves if the same strategy is being used to produce those terrorists?
We have to note the response of Israel to the attacks
carried out by terrorists. When it is rockets being fired they retaliate with
rockets but when it is a self-destructing individual, they stop the borders to
workers and blockade the supply of the necessities of life. The result is often
an outcry for humanitarian aid while the leaders of HAMAS sit back and smile,
knowing that others meeting the basic needs of their members will allow
grooming others to achieve self-actualization. HAMAS proclaims itself as a
humanitarian NGO that it is – in part. However, I would submit that the larger
part of the organization is intent upon motivating self-actualization,
otherwise known as terrorism.
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