Broken Windows

Spent a lovely morning having coffee with some of my favourite people the other day. I love these women. They are truly beautiful people. During our few hours together, we shared lots and laughed more. Inevitably the conversation turned to a topic that weighs heavily on all of us; the terrible state of our children's elementary school. To say the school is overcrowded and under resourced would be the very least. On good days, it survives. On bad days, walking its halls can feel like your living nightmare. One of my coffee gals began questioning why, in her opinion, the administration seemed to be solely focused on petty issues and not addressing the real problems. As the discussion evolved, I found myself remembering a story I heard years ago and has often come to mind since. It is the story of a broken city and its mayor who believed that taking small steps forward was the only way it could be fixed.

The city had the highest unemployment, illiteracy and homeless rates in the whole country. Gang war and crime ruled the streets so that no one dared walk alone even in the broad light of day. There wasn't a building that hadn't been vandalized or was without broken windows. Most of the city's inhabitants had left and of those that remained there was only a few that had not lost all hope. They were calling for the city's mayor to fix their broken city. In huge ways. Immediately.

The city's mayor was a very wise man; realizing that even the tiniest decision he made could mean life or death for that city. He thought. He prayed. Then he revealed his plan.

The mayor announced that the city was going to be rebuilt. Crime was going to stop. The economy was going to rebound. And it was all going to start by fixing every single broken window in the city.

You can probably imagine the townspeople's reaction. Disappointment. Disillusionment. Disgust even. Fixing broken windows? Weren't those the very least of their problems?

But the mayor held firm to his plan and so workers began replacing the shattered windows with glass until all the broken windows in the city were fixed. And a strange thing happened. People came together. Crime all but stopped. Business opened. The streets became safe for people to walk and shop in. The city was reborn. It did more than survive; it thrived.

This story amazes me.  How could something so small, so seemingly insignificant as fixing broken windows turn an entire city around? More importantly, how can I apply the lesson in this story to the "broken windows" in my life?

I'm reading a book right now called The 2 Degree Difference by John Trent. Its a super read, offering a fresh perspective on the problems we all face in life that just seem impossible to tackle. Like the city's mayor in the story above, Trent insists that "its the smallest steps we take toward change that ultimately make the greatest difference".

As for my children's school administrators, I'm willing to believe that they are onto something. If fixing broken windows can turn an entire city around, surely dealing with seemingly "petty" school issues is at least a step in the right direction.

*This week is teacher appreciation week at my children's school.  This post is dedicated to those teachers with heartfelt gratitude for all their commitment and hard work.

2 Degree Difference
By John Trent