Sometimes, we just accept things as the way they are and adapt our behavior accordingly. My daughter’s school bus is habitually late. This frustrates me (‘infuriates’ might be better), because I have a long commute to work and, when the bus is even a couple minutes late, it can add a significant amount of drive time (I need to catch the highway traffic just right). I am also compulsive about punctuality—e.g., on time is ten minutes early. So, I never want to be that parent who is holding up the bus. Unfortunately, not every parent shares my obsession. In fact, most at the bus stop have accepted that “the bus is always late”. Thus, when the bus is on time, we are most always waiting for someone running to the bus. It happens. I am not faulting parents (per se). This has just struck me recently of how lackadaisical we have become about considering others as we go about our days.
Quite regularly, “the commons” has come to mind. I have shared several times my affinity for Garrett Hardin’s “The Tragedy of the Commons”. This work is second perhaps only to the bible in shaping my world view. More recently, I have considered it more from a more local, community point of view. The concept of the commons can be viewed as situational and from small to grand scale—from a one-to-one relationship to a Universal view. In all situations, we impact others to some degree.
If I am late for something, like the bus, I affect others negatively. In the case of the bus, I now delay the arrival of the next stop. I make others late. I cause parents to blame the bus driver. In the theme of the commons, it can easily be seen how the impact multiples—consider what happens if one person is late at every stop, for example. Not only does this tardiness delay the children’s arrival to school or another parent’s departure to work, but it shifts attitudes. (Admittedly, I am not very good at maintaining the positive attitude I have shaped in my morning routine.) This in turn affects how people drive on the road during their commute. It affects how we interact with others. It can easily make someone’s or some many’s day go sour quite quickly.
Now the bus is just an example. There are countless situations that we take for granted. We don’t think our actions have much impact. On the contrary. This is the concept of the commons. Situationally, the actions of one have little consequence, but when these seemingly minor actions are taken by many the consequences become exponentially greater. Likewise, the positive actions we take individually may not seem to have great consequence for the commons, but when small actions are taken by even a few the affect in pronounced.
As we go forward today, let us seek to have a positive impact on the lives we touch. A smile. A ‘thank you’. A small act of courtesy can go a long way toward making our communities better.
Carpe momento!