It was the smallest of drips that caused rather big problems. A tiny hole in a pipe had been allowing an unnoticed drip, drip, drip in the ceiling of our family room. It had gone on long enough that it soaked a corner of the ceiling, down the inside of the wall, and into the carpet. As the water continued to drip, the accumulation built up, causing the ceiling to give way and that's when we first discovered what was going on. Prior to that point the damage was occurring, but we couldn't see it.
I took a couple of university classes with a girl who was one of the most diligent students I ever met. Every evening she would go through notes from each of her classes and expand on points she felt were important. It did not matter what papers she might have been writing or exams she may have been studying for. It didn't make a difference if she was tired or not feeling well or had been out with friends. She did not skip going through notes each and every evening.
Heading into finals she had full and complete lecture notes while others were spending effort trying to decipher point form summaries or abbreviated explanations. She could start studying right away while others had to reach back into months of work and try to recall what was taught to fill in the gaps. Her efforts, little by little each day, yielded great results and she went on to graduate summa cum laude.
Not realizing there is a problem…drip, drip, drip…means being forced to deal with tough consequences down the line. Taking care of things when you know what needs to be done…drip, drip, drip…ensures a far more successful outcome.
But there's another aspect of this and that's the reality of knowing there’s a growing problem, but hoping it will just go away. Or get better on its own. It's a game of 'let's pretend' that can become problematic.
Every time we let pass a comment that is demeaning to someone because we don’t want to make waves, we are adding to the disrespect that is poisoning our culture.
Every time we ignore urgent messaging and decide someone else needs to do something about world hunger, we are letting another child go to bed hungry.
Every time we insult, slander or curse at those in authority, we are undermining the ability of those who lead, teach, serve and protect us do their jobs properly.
Drip, drip, drip. We see the erosion in the respect we have for one another, the care we show one another, and the dignity in which we uphold one another.
We have probed deeper into the oceans and further into the heavens than anyone who came before. We can communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere. We have cured diseases and mapped the human genome. We consider ourselves highly advanced, forward thinking, and technologically sophisticated. So what have we done with all of that?
We have children dying each day from preventable illnesses. There are more than 800 million people suffering chronic hunger. Homeless families are living on the streets in the wealthiest places in the world. Protection for those who are vulnerable is diminishing. What used to be considered utterly profane is now commonplace across most forms of media.
We can shrug our shoulders and ask "how did we get here" but we know full well the path we took. Drip, drip, drip.
We treated morality as the punchline of jokes. We set aside truth for approval. We devalued human life. We turned government into entertainment and entertainers into deities. We pushed others to the periphery and made ourselves the center of the universe. We put our own comfort ahead of the necessities of others. We turned language into a weapon and treated freedom of speech carelessly.
It didn’t happen overnight, but once the dripping became more incessant it seemed to go unchallenged. But that doesn’t need to continue.
We can be people who give more than we take, respect instead of revile, see rather than ignore, uplift instead of tear down, encourage rather than curse at, and aspire to do better and be better.
The things we do and say combine, accumulate and impact the lives of us all. The dripping can erode and cause damage…or…it can begin a tidal wave of excellence. We each wield the tools. That's my outlook.
