Principles That Society Has Lost

There is no question that change is very incremental. It happens very slowly. Before you know it you wonder how it happened. Most of the time change is good. Things like losing weight, quitting smoking and drinking, and breaking bad habits that affect a person’s health are changes we would all like to make. Some change though is not good and can happen so slowly that we don’t even see it coming. Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point” explains this phenomenon very clearly using the analogy of a scale that is filled with stones on one side and no stones on the other.

Everyday, week, or year, one stone is added to the empty side of the scale. Slowly the scale gets tipped in the other direction. The change is so small that it can’t be recognized. Mr. Gladwell uses this illustration to show that once the scale is tipped in the other direction, our societal problems can then grow to epidemic proportion.

Certain universal principles were very common thirty to forty years ago. They were built into people and were taught by parents as a natural part of growing up. They are almost like the lost episodes of life. Slowly they have left us and we don’t think about them any longer as a society.

As a teacher, administrator, and observer in society, I have watched this happen. I have observed certain problems in our society go from being problems that only affect a small segment of the population to the point where they have become epidemics and affect huge numbers of people.

In order to deal with an epidemic, it has to be recognized. Once it is recognized we have to begin to treat it. Treating it requires a plan that will take time and has to start with our children. The change may be something that we as a society won’t see initially. It also may be something that we won’t see at all. The change may be something that will finally really happen with our great grandchildren.