Without going back into "The Tipping Point", one of my favorite books to reference, some time in the early/mid 90's Mayor Rudy Giuliani cleaned up the streets with the "Broken Glass Theory" in mind. The theory is that in a clean and well-maintianed environment, people would be less likely to commit crime.
An example I have always used is when coming to a person's home... If the home is a mess, visitors are less likely to respect the place, clean up after themselves, etc. On the other hand, when entering a super clean, well-maintained home, visitors are much more likely to be considerate. They will take their shoes off sometimes without being asked, they might take their dishes to the sink and trash to the garbage, etc.
Well, in general, in life it is important to surround yourself with positive influences, including a clean and organized living space.
Last night, my roommate Tim, decided to finish painting the walls in our apartment. That lead to organizing and cleaning the house. The energy level instantly rose and so did the positive vibes. All of a sudden, I started looking for ways to contribute, so I took care of the dishes, made us a fatty dinner, later found some dope old lights that I never hung up, etc. I was even inspired to take care of some bills and parking tickets...shit I NEVER take care of. I organized my desk and work area a bit, etc.
Tim's still on the mission today. As I type, he's painting the trimming and handles on the cabinets in the hallway. It's a beautiful thing. Being surrounded by this kind of productivity has always been SUPER influential on me. I've always needed to be surrounded by productive people who lead by example...that's how I do it, but I need the inspiration in return.
Reversely, being surrounded by destructiveness and wastefulness is POISON!! Unfortunately, that's been the case more times than not around here. Hopefully things change. If not, I have to make decisions for my personal well being. Hope you're doing the same.
Holla!!!
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2 comments:
I work in the graffiti removal industry, which is probably the single biggest case study that proves the broken window theory. I can tell that the more well to do parts of town get less graffiti because they remove it immediately, and the ones that get it piled up are the ones that fail to act on removal for years.
I have to concur with what Glass Graffiti Removal has to say. But I would add that when it comes to graffiti removal from storefront windows the real issue is store owners not wanting to spend the money to remove the graffiti out of fear that they will get vandalized again.
The fact is, however, that the sooner you remove the graffiti from those windows, the less likely it is that a criminal will come damage the glass again.
For the criminal it becomes a high-risk proposition to attack the same building twice or three times quickly in a row.
Criminals know that they're likely to get watched by the store owner who is promptly investing in fixing his own property. So the criminal will refrain from attacking the same store over and over again, unless the store looks all messed up and like nobody cares about it. Then they'll attack it with impunity.
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