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Fridays With Joe - Week 16

Yesterday we finished reading The Tipping Point, our July book for the MajorityMag Summer Reading Series.  Hopefully some of you had a chance to read it and follow along with the summaries and discussion questions I posted on here.  In wrapping up our discussion of the book I wanted to mention a thought from Chapters 7 that really inspired me.

First, in Chapter 7 Gladwell is talking about suicide and how it is contagious.  According to the book, statistics have shown that when suicides are highly publicized there are several days of increased suicides that follow.  Obviously at any given time many people may be dealing with depression, stress, etc. and there are many possible ways they could deal with it, but when they see someone else commit suicide it’s almost as if they subconsciously feel that they now have been given permission to do the same.  If you think about it, its really true.  How many times have you been waiting at a cross walk when the sign says “DON’T WALK” and then when someone else comes up and starts walking across, you follow.  I know I’ve definitely done that. 

I guess what I’m trying to get at here is if this stuff is true, if people are subconsciously looking for “permission” to act in a certain way than we can use that to encourage positive behavior as well.  For me, that is honestly is the motivation behind MajorityMag; that people would see the good going on around them and realize they have permission to join in.  I hope people look at stories like Bill Wilson’s and realize they don’t have to respond to pain with hate, they can respond with love.  Or look at an organization like Rosa Loves and believe that just by tapping in to the gifts and talents of a few friends around them they can impact people around the world.  As people are inspired they will act, and as they act they will inspire others, like Gladwell said:

“Look at the world around you.  It may seem like an immovable, implacable place.  It is not.  With the slightest push-in the right place-it can be tipped.”

Let’s push together.

-JH

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