What does vulnerability mean? What does it mean to be vulnerable? How should we approach vulnerability? Is it something good or bad? Is it just a perception or is it a fact? Is it something internal or external?
I'm not sure if I can answer all those questions, but without a doubt, if I jot down all the thoughts and ideas that are wandering in my mind, regarding this concept, I will get more perspective and clarity on the topic; and that is something I would like to share with you.
Let's start defining "vulnerability". Wikipedia shows the following definition:
"Vulnerability refers to the inability to withstand the effects of a hostile environment. A window of vulnerability is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, compromised, or lacking."
What I want to rescue from that definition are the words "inability" and "environment". The word "inability" refers to a lack of ability; therefore, it means that there is something that can be done to develop ability. The word "environment" gives us the notion that there is something external causing that sense of vulnerability. The preposition using after the word vulnerable is "to", which means that someone or something is vulnerable to another thing, factor, or entity. For example, I could say that my house is vulnerable to tornados. According to the definition, it is the inability of the house (its construction) that makes the house vulnerable to tornados. By improving the house foundations and the quality of the construction materials, the house could be invulnerable to tornados. Being invulnerable, or less vulnerable, means that the ability to cope with threatening factors has improved. One important thing to pay attention to from this example is the fact that it is not the house itself nor the tornado that creates vulnerability but the interaction between them. In the improved version of the house, the interaction will not cause vulnerability. In the present context, people are vulnerable to COVID-19. So, is the interaction between the virus and the person what affect the person's health. A vaccine is what could improved the ability of the person to deal with the virus; social distancing prevents the person from contracting the virus but doesn't make the person less vulnerable.
That said, these are my following question: what happens when both entities involved are people? Is the analysis, we used for materials things and environmental factors, still valid? Is the interaction between people what causes the vulnerability? What are the things that can be damaged in that situation?
In my own words, I would define "vulnerability" as the feeling of being exposed to something that is perceived as a possible threat. In this regard, it is worth noting that while the trigger for threat is the same for all people (anything that can affect your welfare), what is considered as detrimental for one's welfare is culturally specific (Ekman, 2007). For example, a spider can be considered as a threat for you but not for me. The other thing that is worthwhile to bring into consideration is the word "feeling". According to Dr. Paul Ekman (Emotions Revealed, 2007), a feeling is what a person experiences after an emotion was triggered, in other words, a feeling is how an emotion feels in one's body. I think this is an important point because the individual has to feel first the sense of vulnerability in order to understand that they are being vulnerable. That leads us to understand that vulnerability is; first, a perception that something valuable for us is being threatened; second, and because the sense of a threat is involved, vulnerability appears as a result of experiencing fear (being the universal trigger for fear "a threat of harm", Ekman, 2007); third, since it is related to one's feeling of fear, it is not the interaction itself what causes the sense of vulnerability but one's interpretation of how well the person could deal with that interaction; and fourth, by improving one's ability to cope with that specific interaction, the person can reduce their sense of vulnerability.
Now, I would like to spend some time reflecting on what things people are vulnerable to, and what is at stake for that feeling to appear.
If fear is related to vulnerability, thus, we just need to think about what things people could be fearful of, and here is the thing: although a threat always involves a risk of losing something valuable, there are some fears that are fictional, which means that the associated risks to those fears are not a real threat . They may look real but in fact, they are covering a different need. For instance, laughing is to take the risk of appearing foolish, crying is to take the risk of appearing sentimental, holding hands is to take the risk of getting involved, loving is to take the risk of not being corresponded, living is to take the risk of dying, and having hope is to take the risk of losing it (Alex Rovira, "The seven powers", 2006).
I will continue to develop my thoughts about vulnerability from a professional perspective in my next post.
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