Posted in Philosophy of Education on Apr 27, 2010 - 11:43 AM
As I lock my bicycle up in downtown Phoenix, outside of a happenin' little cafe called Conspire, a child, belted into his stroller, is continually crying, nearly screaming, as he sits unattended to by anyone around. There are a lot of people here. I am glancing from person to person, hoping to bring attention to this crying kid, but nobody is receptive. I should have figured that a stony glance around would not amount to someone else coming to the aid of this child, considering that his scream can be heard from 50 yards in any direction and nobody seems to care.I've come to the Conspire to play their open-mic with my good friend Matt. Matt is much more confrontational than I am, and though I usually tuck my head away when the pot begins to boil, I'm very pleased to hear Matt chime in with his very low, loud, and bellowing voice, "Oh, I guess it's just a hip thing in Phoenix to leave little babies all alone, crying in the streets."
Matt's deliberately loud statement gets quite a few people's attention, and within seconds, four people are now catering to this baby in the stroller, and can you believe it? He's stopped crying, and seems to be getting along just fine.
Isn't it crazy that it just takes one person to make something happen? That baby just sat and cried, and cried, and cried. And not a damn person out of a group of about 20 were doing anything about it, until one guy spoke up and called out everyone in the area.
Sometimes I feel so caught up in life, that I forget how strong one person's voice can be. I forget that sometimes, simple actions can be most profound, and bring about incredible results.
Oh, the power of one.
Tags for this entry:
leadership,
autonomy,
responsibility,
empowerment,
taking action
Comments
Apr 27, 2010 - 08:49 PM
Indeed Sara, our voice can be used in magnificent ways.
My challenge has always been finding ways to speak up so as to address issues, without coming off as harsh, mean, cruel, belittling, etc.
However, my early days of trial and error led to some undesired disputes. I am finding that if I speak from a stance of voicing my opinion for the sake of helping those that I am speaking to, then they are very receptive, and are often thankful that I spoke to them in regards to what I considered to be an issue. As there are exceptions to everything, sometimes I still find myself in disputes, and do my best to diplomatically maneuver myself out of the rough, and back into the fairway.
But using our voices, especially when nobody else is, and there seems to be a need to speak up, is quite intimidating. I tend to tremble and stutter too. 
May 04, 2010 - 12:49 PM
Over at the Situationist Blog they recently posted the video of ABC News experiment on the Bystander effect:
http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/the-situation-of-bystanders/
Sara Schmidt
Apr 27, 2010 - 03:06 AM
Lovely story, Shawn! Poor baby.
I, too, often fail to speak up; and when I do, I tremble and stutter! I’m just shy by nature. But you’re absolutely right; every one of us has a voice we can use to create powerful change every day.