Can We Halt The Slippery Slide?

In Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” one of the characters is asked how he went bankrupt.  

“In two ways. Gradually, and then suddenly”

That glib response has been paraphrased by many to account for a timeless insight into the human condition and the nature of change in the real world.

Gradual and then sudden.

In my career, it has been used to describe how technological innovation has crept into the mainstream. While the Standard Distribution of Adoption bell-curve may make the same point visually, it highlights an inarguable reality. Things happen gradually and then swiftly as they build momentum.

In recent days, I would suggest the same truism could be applied to more critical concepts like Democracy and civil society.

How has democracy changed?

Gradually, and then suddenly.

The events in Washington shocked many around the world. They deeply affected me as they were shown in the 24/7 hi-res, hi-def imagery we’ve come to associated with news coverage these days. The symbolism of an armed horde rampaging through that building conjured up images of the Visigoths and the collapse of Rome. The replaying of Trump’s video asking for calm while still contesting the election results was another visceral blow. And the slow reaction of all the social media platforms to remove and shut down his access on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat served as another stark reminder of the shared culpability those organizations have for the unrest and division that is so prevalent in the USA today. 

As Canadians it’s too easy to smugly suggest that such events would never happen here. That armed citizens would never storm Parliament Hill or take control of Queen’s Park in Toronto to have their voices heard. That Canadians would never collect, and then burn, camera equipment to show their disdain for the “Fake News” media. 

But let’s not pretend we’re immune to the same slow and inexorable decline of our systems and institutions either.

I look at the rash of stories about Government officials caught returning from international vacations and facing the wrath of their constituents who had valiantly stayed at home, shied away from any gatherings and eschewed travel at the behest of those same officials. The public outrage – and public resignations and dismissals – are entirely justified in my opinion. 

As many have said, more eloquently than me, to publicly flaunt that the rules do not apply to the rule makers but only to those they rule is a nail in the coffin of the principles many Canadians hold dear.

And therein is the issue.

Principles.

Those lofty words and ideals we sing about in national anthems. Those stirring words we leverage in speeches from the pulpit, the corner office and the campaign trail. Those inspiring words we broadcast to the world as a ray of light and sunshine to highlight what we hold dear and true.

Those principles that, if we’re honest with ourselves, we have gradually let slip to the point that they are a shadow of what they originally stood for.

We have prioritized short-term gains over long term goals. While the stock market has bubbled and the NYSE, NASDAQ, FTSE and TSX have climb upward, we’ve seen more systemic issues like affordable housing, a living wage, racial equality and education go down with a similar velocity. 

Today we wake up in a world where climate change is all around us, but we dawdle about executing the Paris Accord. Where millions of refugees are displaced from their countries, but we cannot bring peace to their homelands. Where millions are suffering under a global pandemic and yet thousands still believe it’s a hoax, a global conspiracy and feel that wearing a mask or taking a vaccine is a blow to their civil liberties. 

These things didn’t just happen overnight. 

They’re the result of a million tiny little decisions made gradually, a multitude of inconvenient corners cut inexorably, a thousand difficult discussions consistently avoided or pushed off because their impacts weren’t immediate or catastrophic.

The question that haunts me is do we have the courage and conviction to seek different outcomes. To look at the thousands of tiny decisions we make each day and ask if we’re helping or harming our fellow citizens and the principles we supposedly hold so dear. 

If social media is where we should be getting our news? If the companies we idolize, and buy the stocks of, shouldn’t be held more accountable for their business practices? If the momentary inconvenience of a cloth mask isn’t preferable to another 9 months of lockdown? If the superficial efforts we’ve made at bolstering our Healthcare, Education and Housing institutions will truly enable our country to thrive in the difficult years ahead?

Here’s what my inner optimist knows to be equally true...

Just as decline happens gradually and then suddenly, so too does growth.

Small action by small action. Brick by brick. BUT that growth will require new decisions. Different decisions. HARDER decisions. Those different decisions – those explicit and overt decisions - will be how we grow back and move forward.

I’m reminded of another famous quote by advertising legend Bill Bernbach.

“A principle isn’t a principle until it costs you something.” 

We can all acknowledge that the cost we’ve paid in recent months has been too high.

Which begs the question, what are we all prepared to pay to move from decline to growth?