Guest Commentary:
ARE WE AT A TIPPING POINT IN AMADOR COUNTY?
Ruth Gottstein
Eight years ago I read a new book called The Tipping
Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, which I just discovered is still on the
national bestseller list. I now realize
I learned a lot about how we make change by recently reviewing the author's
comments on his website, www.gladwell.com.
Because he's such a good writer, it seems to me that just reading his website
alone will enable you to get the drift of his views.
Gladwell tells us that life is like an epidemic--which he
uses as a positive metaphor. For example,
one kid comes into class with measles, and it spreads throughout the
class. Within a week it dies out and
none of the children will ever get measles again. Things can happen all at once, and little changes can make a huge
difference. Gladwell also cites Sesame
Street, a television show that started the equivilant of a learning epidemic in
preschoolers, turning kids onto reading, and "infecting" them with
literacy. That's how social epidemics also work. What if everything has a Tipping Point? Wouldn't it be cool to
try to look for Tipping Points in business, or social policy, or community
action? As a columnist and as an Amador citizen, I have been thinking about the
past eight years since I read The Tipping Point...and how Gladwell's theory
applies here. And, you know folks, it
really does.
Lots has to do with communication. Today we are in touch with one another in unprecedented
ways. We email, read news and
blogs. We have passed through a
presidential election, and we are still in the middle of a major depression,
affecting so many folks--especially seniors--who thought they had their
financial futures in order. But at the
same time, we are attending meetings of groups which never existed before such
as our Upcountry Community Council, and we go their meetings and speak directly
to government--to the Board of Supervisors, the Amador Water Agency, the Amador
County Transportation Commission, and the Amador Rapid Transportation System.
At this point you might be asking, "So what?" According to Gladwell, people can start
"positive epidemics" of their own.
The virtue of an epidemic, after all, is that just a little input may be
enough to get it started, and it can spread very quickly.
When our local auto dealership was threatened with closure,
over 1000 people rallied to support it.
Yes, it was closed in spite of our efforts, but--the county had joined
together in an unprecedented way--an epidemic of social action.
The tools exist.
Today we have Loraine Davis' wonderful volunteer email service loraine@suttercreek.com. She sends out
up to six emails every day. Public
health alerts get the first priority, next are governmental announcements, and
then activities and articles. She will
also list governmental information only, or activities only. Contact her to be
added to her emails or to send her announcements to be listed. We also have Carol Harper's announcements in
the Amador Community News (www.amadorcommunitynews.com)
contact: ACNEditor@gmail.com, which provide us
with even more information, and which cover a great deal of what's going on in
the county. All of this is FREE.
Please take a moment and visit www.gladwell.com , then let me know how you
are going to apply these theories to your life--I'd sure like to hear from you.
Email me: ruth@volcanopress.com
Ruth Gottstein, Publisher Emerita
Volcano Press
P.O. Box 270
Volcano, CA 95689
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