On an 8,000 people responsibility

This week’s book learning is from The Law of the Garbage Truck by David J Pollay –

Sociologist and doctor Nicholas Christakis and his colleague, political scientist James Fowler discovered that our behaviour influences people within three degrees of us i.e. everything we say or do tends to ripple through our network.

Let’s consider that simplistically. Let’s say that in a given week we have 20 social contacts – ten friends, five co-workers and five family members. And assuming they have similar number of contacts, we are roughly connected to 400 people at 2 degrees of separation. And 8,000 at 3 degrees.
(And, if any of your close contacts are teachers, preachers or employees at a popular restaurant/store, then god bless you!)

In essence, everything we do this week is likely to affect 8,000 people (at least). That’s quite some responsibility. How are we going to use it?

It’s a very simple concept, really. Everything we do or say has massive processional/ripple effect – far beyond what we can imagine. And the best part is that we have full control on whether that’s going to be positive or negative. With great power comes great responsibility. Maybe 2012 will be the year we use our responsibility well.. Happy new year!

Here’s to choosing to see, and be, positive this week!