This is the worst international crisis Greece has given us since the Iliad. The global community faces the crippling decay and destruction of a state, Greece. There are cuts in international trade as countries retract from trading internationally, and ultimately states such as Italy and Spain face prospective default. This is an epic story, one which ultimately includes us and a lesson we can learn.

The Sparknotes version of Greece’s fiscal troubles starts on Dec. 8, when Greece’s rating was cut down to BBB+ by The Fitch Ratings. This is the first time in 10 years it has been rated below investment grade. Because of speculations that Greece’s austerity programs would not save it’s economy, it was deemed unworthy of investment. Increasing debt issues created doubt Greek fiscal responsibility, and as a result the international community lost faith in Greek bonds and investments.

The result of the cuts cost countries holding large numbers of Greek bonds to panic. Suddenly pitched into the center of a crisis, Spain had to amend a plan and save 50 billion euros they would have lost in Greek investments. However, this included spending cuts totalling 4 percent of its GDP, which continued its problems of a stagnant economy.

The European community needed to act quickly to prevent a Pandora’s box of debt from crushing the euro. In April, they approved a 30-billion-euro aid for Greece, which Athens declined. The same month, April 27, Standard & Poor’s dropped Spain’s rating because of poor prospects of growth; they marked Greece’s credit status as junk, below any investment level.

Something had to be done, so as a first assault the EU and IMP created a bailout in exchange for 30 billion euro of Greek cuts. Fifty thousand Greeks responded by rioting, unions staged a 48-hour strike and civilians died in the burning of a bank. Other countries such as Portugal faced similar riots as they cut government programs.

Both Spain and Italy began making cuts in fear. On May 25, Italy made a 24-billion-euro budget cut, reducing their stagnant GDP even more. Spain’s private debt was at a 10-year high, and Germany unilaterally banned short selling of shares. On May 13, Portugal was forced into another 9.4 percent cut. The Eurozone is making drastic cuts to survive and barely surviving because of drastic cuts. As a last-ditch effort, the global policymakers installed a 750-billion-euro safety net against the Greek crisis, but was it too late?

It is an epic crisis by definition, with huge actors, monumental disasters and an important lesson. The story now involves the entire world as Greece faces default, and we cannot turn away. Instead, we should take the Greek experience as a lesson not to let fear rule the economy. In times of economic trouble, states left to laissez-faire style government loses control.