All it takes is one person breaking away from the fold to change the dynamics of a situation. "Once any one helps, then in seconds others will join in because a new social norm emerges," notes Zimbardo.
This is what Zimbardo refers to as "the power of one."
"If you find yourself in an ambiguous situation, resist the urge to look to others and go with your gut instinct," advises Melissa Burkley in Psychology Today. "If you think there is even a possibility that someone is in need, act on it. At worst, you will embarrass yourself for a few minutes, but at best, you will save a life."
In other words, don't turn away from suffering. Even smiling at a stranger in these fearful times can be a revolutionary act.
All it takes is one person to start a chain reaction.
For instance, a few years ago in Florida, a family of six, four adults and two young boys, were swept out to sea by a powerful rip current in Panama City Beach. There was no lifeguard on duty. The police were standing by, waiting for a rescue boat. And the few people who had tried to help ended up stranded, as well.
Those on shore grouped together and formed a human chain. What started with five volunteers grew to 15, then 80 people, some of whom couldn't swim.
One by one, they linked hands and stretched as far as their chain would go. The strongest of the volunteers swam out beyond the chain and began passing the stranded victims of the rip current down the chain.
One by one, they rescued those in trouble and pulled each other in.
There's a moral here for what needs to happen in this country if we only can band together and prevail against the riptides that threaten to overwhelm us.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, there may not be much we can do to avoid the dismal reality of the police state in the long termnot so long as the powers-that-be continue to call the shots and allow profit margins to take precedence over the needs of people but in the short term, there are things we can all do right now to make this world (or at least our small corners of it) a little bit kinder, a lot less hostile and more just.
It's never too late to start making things right in the world.
Source: .ly/39b3ATc
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