The Johan Syndrome

“Jonah” is not typically a topic that appears as a part of our daily conversations. In fact, unless you are an avid Bible enthusiast, or know someone with the name “Jonah”, which, might I add, I don’t believe is a common name, Jonah rarely comes up in conversation at all. Thus, I can imagine your confusion. Here, however, I am not referring to “Jonah” as an individual, I am referring to Jonah as a concept, an idea. Most of us have heard of the story of Jonah (I would imagine most people have heard of it, seeing as, well, we read a lot of Biblical stuff in SBS). However, for those unaware, here is a brief summary: There once was a prophet named Jonah who was requested by God to travel to Nineveh, a town filled with, supposedly, terrible individuals with no sense of right and wrong and no reverence for God; Jonah’s job was to spread the Word of God in Nineveh. Jonah, as what I imagine most normal people would be in such a situation, was terrified of the task and decided to run away from it. Specifically, sail in the opposite direction of Nineveh. God, seeing Jonah’s disobedience—yes I was weirded out by this part of the story too—ordered a fish to swallow him. Jonah, trapped in the fish, felt quite hopeless, as one would when trapped inside a fish, and eventually repented and cried out to God for help. Hearing Jonah’s cries for help and willingness to repent, like a watermelon seed in the mouth of a particularly enthusiastic child, Jonah was spit out by the fish. 1 Then Jonah reaches Nineveh, spreads the word of God, all’s fine and dandy, God is happy, Jonah is happy, the people of Nineveh are happy.

The End.

Except this is not the end; Jonah was not at all happy about the fact that the people of Nineveh were so eager to change their ways. In fact, for whatever reason, he was furious. In an almost comical fashion, after spreading the word of God to the people of Nineveh, Jonah storms out and sits under a vine. (God eventually caused the vine to whither, though, angering Jonah even more). 2 The importance of the story of Jonah is not the ending, nor is it Jonah’s “oh so courageous” act of taming the people of Nineveh. The importance of the story of Jonah comes back to its relatability—-we are all, in essence, a Jonah. What do I mean by this? It’s simple: in this bustling world filled with responsibilities and, consequently, obstacles for us to conquer, it’s easy for us to chase the mundane and run from God’s direction, landing ourselves in bad situations, and what’s more, blame God in the end. I’m sure you’ve all experienced situations in which you neglect important things in your life, i.e. your health, relationships, self discipline etc. and instead chase what’s easier. Vegetables? Meh! Pass me those chips instead. Call my grandparents? Meh! Old people are boring. Should I study? Meh! Not in the mood. Then, as expected, things don’t end up going your way: either you gained a lot of weight from the mountain of chips you insisted on eating, or you failed that test all because you figured it would be more “chill” to...well...chill. What’s more, I can already imagine the reaction of many individuals in these types of situations, “Ugh! God, why did this happen to me?! I’ve done everything right up till now, this is so unfair!” or “God is just against me. No other explanation.” The truth is, most of us who proclaim that we have faith, don’t actually fully rely on God. We are scared of handing the tiller of the ship to God and, as the saying goes, let Jesus take the wheel. Let’s admit it, we all have Jonah Syndrome. Sure, I doubt that any of my lovely readers have had the experience of being swallowed by a giant fish due to disobedience towards God, but I do believe that most, if not all of us, have experienced the feeling of being stuck in a giant fish; the feeling of despair, of hopelessness, and, most importantly, of loneliness. The feeling of being far from God and protection. I know exactly what this feels like, as I’ve personally experienced many instances of Jonah Syndrome. One of the most memorable instances started a few years ago, when I first moved to the US in the “oh so lovely” year of 2018. To be completely frank, I felt lost. Sure, I grew up in an English speaking environment, an international school to be exact, and I knew how to talk to people. The issue, however, wasn’t language; it was my fear of the unknown, my fear that if I reach out to others in this foreign environment, I would be pushed out. (“I am the foreigner now, aren’t I?”) At first, I tried to connect with the others in my 5th grade class, though I found it rather difficult. I didn’t know what Broadway was, nor did I know much about Fortnite; I didn’t know what songs were popular in the US, and I didn’t fully understand many of the slang words people kept using. I knew that it would have been better and more healthy for me to talk to others, to try and jump over the obstacle of social anxiety in a foreign country, to flourish and to learn, but I didn’t. I took the easier way out: instead of leaving my comfort zone, I pushed myself deeper into it. I spoke as little as I could, and sat in a corner alone during recess, sulking under the shade of the school’s magnificent golden speckled magnolia tree, sometimes reading a book. Soon, many students started making friends and forming cliques and groups of their own—jumping rope and playing four square—while I, still, sat alone and fell deeper and deeper into anxiety. I could hear God’s direction, I could feel the urge of the world around me, begging me to just open my mouth. Though Jonah’s voice is louder than God’s, and so, I didn’t. As time went on, things grew worse. The more I hid in my corner of safety, the less comfortable I felt opening up to others, until eventually, I began to develop a deep dormant disgust towards others. I felt that all of this, my loneliness, anxiety, and inability to communicate with others was caused by God and His not listening to my prayers, by the people around me and their inability to connect with me, and, simply, anyone and anything may have caused the issue, but not me. Like Jonah, I ran away from God, and like Jonah, I wanted to sulk and blame things on God, or whichever omnipotent creator I happened to believe in prior to becoming a Christian. I did eventually, again, like Jonah, listen to God’s direction and opened up to others. I tried to learn more about the American way of life and what everyone did here. I will say, things are better now; though a lot of the troubles that younger me went through could have simply been avoided if I’d just let myself loose and “let Jesus take the wheel” earlier. Now, (alas once again!) I am sitting here at my desk, listening to my inner Jonah telling me that I am horrible at all science and math and should drop AP Physics C Mechanics.

Well, I will no longer be listening to Jonah, and neither should you. I give Jonah Syndrome one star.