Tipping Points

A children's soccer team works together to organize a charity drive for a local natural disaster event in their area.

Tipping points occur in real life. Like a seesaw, shifting the balance occurs when enough weight falls on one end over the other, tipping the lever. A tipping point occurs during disasters. My husband and I have been following the flood disaster in Texas because we have family who live in San Antonio, which is in the triangle of the flooding zone.

Heroic efforts to help others and people doing what they could to save others have also occurred. I admire them, as it’s so easy to think about oneself when your life is at risk. In times of disaster, though, we realize what’s important to us. People in the affected area come together for support, to tell their survival stories, and to comfort each other. In expressions of human touch and caring, there is much healing. A bottle of water soothes the body. Survivors savour a hot meal, brought together by a common, terrible bond.

In trauma and disaster, people help each other. No-one asks what political persuasion a person is before they decide to help. No-one says they won’t help because of a person’s ethnicity. The bond of having survived an awful event of nature is that they are still living. We come together to mourn those who didn’t survive, and our hearts ache with the families affected. We mourn with those who have lost loved ones and grieve with parents who are burying their children. There is grief in common.

If you and I can come together in a disaster event, why can’t we come together every day without a disaster to motivate us? Think about it. Why do we rally together during hardship but not when life is going well? There are many reasons. Take new neighbours. Do we knock on the door with a “welcome to the neighbourhood” gift or to introduce ourselves? Perhaps we extend a welcome when we think the neighbour is friendly, or similar to us?

This brings up the question of why we gravitate toward our groups. Places like orchestral concerts, libraries, museums, and bookstores make me feel at ease because I’m surrounded by people who share my interests. I socialize with authors, healers, musicians, and artists, or anyone who is passionate about their area of expertise. I enjoy the company of people who love what they do.

It’s natural to gravitate toward those who are like-minded. However, today, this tendency is changing to reflect narrowing viewpoints as different groups are finding other people with the same narrow viewpoints online or on their favourite news outlets. We feel good with those who think like us, but we can stray far from the facts.

Here’s the problem. Somehow, broad values are being eroded, like the rule of law and due process. The analogy of frogs put in cold water not realizing the water is being heated applies here. There will be tipping points.

…the loss of respect for the rule of law in the United States is a multifaceted crisis requiring urgent attention. The candidacy of Donald J. Trump, the deferential federal judiciary, a divided Supreme Court, an acquiescent House of Representatives, and silent state bar associations all contribute to a bleak portrait of political integrity today. It is imperative for the nation to re-establish its dedication to the principles of justice, accountability, and governance by law, lest it drift toward a future where the rule of law is a relic of the past. 1.

I must admit that when preparing this blog post, I slipped into helplessness and a bit of despair. What can I write, say, or do to make a real difference? I turned to psychology and found articles on prosociality. It means behaviour that benefits others, like kindness, empathy, sharing, and comforting. We can actively practice prosociality and attempt to understand and engage people who are not like us. These are small actions we can take to lift each other up if we’re paying attention. Who knows what the weight of our actions will be on the lever of life.

So what can we learn from the compassion one sees after a catastrophe? When we as individuals choose our responses from prosocial behaviours, and promote those behaviours in ourselves and others, we are doing our part to keep the lever of basic care and kindness from reaching a tipping point and falling toward selfishness and apathy.

Catastrophe compassion presents people with a view of ourselves that might surprise us – driven by ‘otherishness’ rather than by selfishness during crucially important moments. One way to honor and extend this positive behavior is to not be surprised by it any longer, but instead to realize that prosociality is common, and thus to expect – and demand – it from others and from ourselves. 2.

If you feel the tipping point is already past balancing and sliding downward, take heart. Respecting the humanity in others, as well as in ourselves, allows for authentic interactions that value the inherent worth and dignity of every individual involved. We can take the stories of survival, where neighbours helped each other, and where strangers selflessly offered help, and let those stories touch our hearts. Disasters are tragedies with unspeakable loss for those affected, but we can ask ourselves to do something daily to honour those who died by extending this positive behaviour.

1. David M. Crane, The Erosion of Respect for the Rule of Law in America, Jurist News, October 29, 2024.

   https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2024/10/the-erosion-of-respect-for-the-rule-of-law-in-america/

   2. Zaki, Jamil, Catastrophe Compassion: Understanding and Extending Prosociality Under Crisis, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Volume 24, Issue 8, 587 - 589

  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32410822/