Creating Resilient Communities

The growing public debate surrounding the recent school shooting fueled by resulting emotion is calling for change and a recurring demand to “ban guns.” Public expectations for immediate corrective actions are understandable when so many lives have been lost and others touched by anguish and confusion. It is human nature to look for someone or something to blame. There often is a need to show action and quick solutions. Unfortunately, events such as these do not have simple causes or simple solutions.   

These events are just Tips of an Iceberg…

When we look to the societal behavior we only see “tips of icebergs” with much hidden beneath the surface. We don’t see much of what drives the observable behavior. Some can be discovered – some undiscoverable. What is beneath the surface and how is it driving, observable system behavior?  The world is non-linear and may unfold before us in very unexpected ways. When we ignore this truth we are susceptible to great surprise. Reducing complex issues to simple solutions is a very dangerous mindset that at best gives us temporary comfort that we have acted. We see this is recent days, “the solutions is X” or “all we need to do is Y”. I’m sorry it is just not that simple - I wish it were so we could end all this. 

The reality is that complex societal behavior can’t be fully reduced or understood. The visible problem or challenge – in this instance mass school shooting - is often the symptom of something deeper and part of a larger-yet hidden problem. The reality is no legislation can provide a universal answer to prevent future events. Whether we ban guns or arm teachers, the range of possible interventions can only be discovered through introspection, reflection and a true recognition that complex social systems can’t be controlled. We can however work collectively as a society to recognize and address some causal factors, take steps to intervene before future crisis, as well as better prepare for the worst – the inevitable future events.

Broaden your perspective to see the bigger picture…

Let us all suspend judgment for a moment and look at the big picture. If we take a broader look at youth behavior we quickly discover that on average eight youth are killed in drunk driving every day – that’s nearly 3000 a year. According to an AAA statistics nearly eleven young people die everyday from texting and driving. If we look further we learn that the 2nd leading cause of death for 10-24 years olds is suicide, with over 3,400 attempts daily. Total deaths of those under age 18 is from firearms with an average 1,500/year deaths combined from accidents, homicide, and suicides. These are all terrible statistics; yet reveal that school gun violence is one symptom of broader issues within our society. Are guns one of many variables - certainly. Are guns the causal factor– no.

Every young life lost is equally precious, yet we tend to pass over facts about other deaths because they are not splashed in the headlines or on our TV screens during the evening news. Imagine if the news reported each and every youth death like they do a mass shooting? Would we recognize that there is perhaps a deeper issue that is driving unhealthy and dangerous behavior be it active shooter, texting on the way to school with a car load of friends or visible and public suicide? I think so. We need to look beyond the tips of the iceberg and recognize there is much more beneath the surface that we have yet to discover and learn about. 

What is the problem…?

Its guns… no its ineffective mental health system…no it’s failure by law enforcement. Framing the problems is the problem. A common fatal flaw in public policy development is skipping a core aspect of problem solving – framing the right problem or set of problems. We often assume the problem is self evident, that cause-effect is clear and all we have to do is put some energy and focus to solve it. Let us not rush into solutions before we sift through the rhetoric, statistics and gain a deeper and broader appreciation.

As I mentioned early, immediate actions will demonstrate action on the part of government(s) who has a role is providing for public safety. Perception of safety through visible action may make one feel safer. It’s not a bad first step. Real improvement or change in system behavior is much harder. Deeper change demands flexible, dynamic yet persistent interventions at many levels by many actors within society. The family, schools, police, EMS, public health, mental health and a diverse spectrum of others we’ve not discussed all contribute to improving conditions. There is no singular action. This will demand a vigilance that will inculcate the entire society with a new way of thinking therefore acting.

First Change our Thinking - then create meaningful Change

We must begin an honest dialogue that fosters creation of new ideas and acceptance of disparate and often polarizing perspectives. It’s not about who is right or who is wrong. We all want our children to be safe. The strength of our society has always been its diversity, yet each of us linked through a common belief in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Where we disagree is how we should go about achieving that goal. The bottom line – what we’re doing now isn’t working and we all need to change our thinking before we can create meaningful change.

We need to foster continued grass roots public and organic government efforts to more deeply appreciate this terrible phenomena. We need to identify knowable factors, learn more about interdependent relationships and accept that the dynamic nature of our society all contribute to the emergence of these events. As we begin to reveal new insights and create new perspectives only then can we co-create new ways to act and mitigate conditions that give rise to these events

Initial area of exploration….to create new interventions

1.    Re-imagine school safety in the 21st century. The incremental and reactive approaches we enact after each incident is not keeping pace with rapid societal change. Question the efficacy of existing policy, structures and processes. Explore how well intended, yet functionally silo’d government entities such as schools, emergency services, health and law enforcement might be detrimental to effective response and positive change.

 2.    Improve ways to detect, assess and monitor at risk young persons. First we have to re-evaluate what we mean by “at risk”. This is perhaps the least understood aspect of the issue we confront. It’s the why. The challenge is these are low probability high impact events that do not produce effective statistics to gain insights.

3.    Interventions will be experimental. Because cause and effect can’t be determined in complex systems we must be willing to experiment. Any interventions that could interrupt possible convergence that leads to violence should be tried. Consider that multi-faceted, decentralized and locally focused efforts will more easily keep pace with change. Be equally willing to invest and divest as we explore ways to create change. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to keep us all safe.

4.    Create Resilient Communities. Each and every community and its school are unique in character, physical layout, daily routine and how it nests with broader society. Our guiding principal to create contextually relevant interventions is resilience. How does a community and school (viewed as a system) become resilient? Although we can’t control complex systems we can foster behaviors that interrupts convergence that enable such events. We can improve our confidence that our community is “watchful” for the anomalous behavior that might foreshadow violence. We can be more prepared for when these events to manifest.

5.    Mitigate and Re-Create Response. If we can’t imagine the worse case scenario than we will be unprepared and surprised. First and foremost, we must recognize that no matter how much resources and sweat equity we put forth – none of it can prevent future events with any probability. We must assume an event is possible and take necessary steps to disrupt the action and mitigate the immediate impact. Existing paradigms and bureaucratic protocol are often anchors to limit new ideas. We must wipe the slate clean and begin thinking new about mitigation and responses.

I am a concerned citizen who wants a safe environment for my family and neighbors. I am writing this as both a warning and to instill hope for meaningful change. There is a warning to anyone who wants to believe there are clearly identifiable causes and simple solutions to incidents like the mass violence that occurred in Parkland, Florida. It really isn’t simple and there are no simple or self evident solutions. We all owe it to our family and community to take a step back and look at the big picture. With that there is hope for us all. We can collectively in our own small way change our thinking and behavior to contribute to making each our communities more resilient.