A Movement Runs On the Power of One

 The Power Of One

          One song can spark a moment,
         One flower can wake the dream.
        One tree can start a forest,
       One bird can herald spring.
     One smile begins a friendship,
    One handclasp lifts a soul.
    One star can guide a ship at sea,
    One word can frame the goal.

    One vote can change a nation,
    One sunbeam lights a room.
     One candle wipes out darkness,
      One laugh will conquer gloom.
        One step must start each journey,
           One word must start each prayer.
               One hope will raise our spirits,
                  One touch can show you care.

                         One voice can speak with wisdom,
                             One heart can know what's true.
                                One life can make the difference,
                                   You see, IT'S UP TO YOU!

~ Author Unknown~

According to sociologist Doug McAdam's political process model, a social movement is a continuous phenomenon that thrives on the ability of the progressive community to capitalize on political opportunities and translate such opportunities into social change. (Doug McAdam, Political Process and the Development of the Black Insurgency 1930-1970, 1999)

Significant social movements have accompanied every generation of American society. Many social movements were based on political or religious convictions that heightened the desire to fight discrimination, improve health conditions, or ease economic tensions. (Bill J. Bostic, "Social Movement,"Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, www.learningtogive.org, 2011) 

 

Remember American history class and lessons about various important social movements? The textbooks told of many. These important American movements included the following:

* anti-poverty movements

* civil rights movements

* unemployment movements

* sanitary regulations movements

* childcare movements

* the suffrage movements

Great anxiety, frustration, and hostility lead to the emergence of a social movement. Still, movements initially meet significant resistance. Many individuals who comprise a large society have personal reasons to resist change. One basic human reaction to any new idea is show resistance. 

 

These three models may illustrate how a social movement can progress:

1. A Systematic Strain on Social Infrastructure of the Political System occurs.

2. Social Resources Become Accessible To Aggrieved Groups.

 

3. Political Power and Sociological Factors Become Volatile. Conservatism encourages political members to "resist changes that would threaten their current realization of their interests even more than they seek changes which would enhance their interests."(Doug McAdam, Political Process and the Development of the Black Insurgency 1930-1970, 1999) It is a continuous phenomenon that thrives on the interplay of four factors:

• Emergence of broad socioeconomic processes that expand the capacity for more political opportunities over an extended period of time.
  
  
• "Readiness" of the indigenous organizations when the political opportunities become available.
  
  
• Emergence of a collective consciousness among the challenging groups that encourages the belief that the movement is leading in a successful direction.
  
  
• Ability to win the support of external groups in order to broaden the opposition against the conservative political structure.

The present movement to save the nation from the terrible consequences of prescription drug abuse finds itself in a time of golden opportunity. No one in society can escape the tremendous strains due to this epidemic: it endangers health, safety, and the pursuit of happiness. Drug abuse negatively relates to crime rates, health costs, welfare states, minimal educational achievements, and general depression. Most importantly, drug abuse results in debilitated citizens, lifelong incarceration, and dead human beings.

The movement began with very limited social resources for a group of people who were suffering the cruelties of family destruction, disease, and death. At the time of its inception, the movement against prescription drug abuse drew minimal political awareness because many people believed improving the deplorable conditions was impossible and because the power of the pharmaceutical industry had already gained a widely accepted stranglehold on the country.

Despite tremendous resistance and indifference, the movement has taken strong root. In the last year alone, thousands, even millions, have educated themselves and now realize they live with the grim realities of the Prescription Nation. And, the roots have grown toward needed resources. In addition to proposing new legislation, states have elected officials who support needed change to combat the problem.

The movement depends upon political alignment of groups within the greater social environment. And, all positive alignment will create an even great perception of success.

More and more new groups have started within the movement to meet the needs of those suffering the consequences of prescription drug abuse. As new resources appear, the changes have drawn positive reactions from the press and from the government.

Yet, print and legislators are not enough to tackle a hungry monster.

You see, to accomplish significant reforms, the prescription drug movement looks to the individual. Each personal commitment of active, collective support will help insure the success of needed changes. Each attitude of indifference will only aid those who continue to inflict harm. These greedy people will continue to accept money while we bury family members and friends. The time has come for all good people in a nation awash in chemicals to stand together and take steps to end the problem of drug abuse. We each hold a piece of a new, beautiful puzzle. The task of completion remains.

The Power of One -- It's Up To You.

Revisiting an Old Pyramid

This post will tackle some problems by first taking a step back into Psychology 101.I hope you allow me to give a little psych review before I make a point or two. We seem to need a model to illustrate some basic fabric of our human existence, so I'm going to use a concept most have seen before.

Maslow and The Hierarchy of Needs

Psychologist Abraham Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person to achieve individual potential. Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation."

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is usually displayed as a pyramid with the lowest levels of the pyramid as the most basic human needs, while the top of the pyramid is the more complex needs  Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are pretty basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, Maslow contends people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security. Then, a person can proceed with each new step.

Maslow based the hierarchy on these two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs. Within the deficiency needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next higher level. Once each of these needs has been satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency. The first four levels are:

1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.;
2) Safety/security: out of danger;
3) Belongingness and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and
4) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition.

(W. Huitt, "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Educational Psychology Interactive, 2007)

According to Maslow, an individual is ready to act upon the growth needs if and only if the deficiency needs are met. Maslow's initial conceptualization included only one growth need--self-actualization. Self-actualized people are characterized by: 1) being problem-focused; 2) incorporating an ongoing freshness of appreciation of life; 3) a concern about personal growth; and 4) the ability to have peak experiences. Maslow later differentiated the growth need of self-actualization, specifically identifying two of the first growth needs as part of the more general level of self-actualization (A. Maslow & R. Lowery, Toward a Psychology of Being, 1998) and one beyond the general level that focused on growth beyond that oriented towards self. (A. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature,1971)

They are:

5) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore;
6) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty;
7) Self-actualization:  to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential; and
8) Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.

Maslow's basic position is that as one becomes more self-actualized and self-transcendent, one becomes more wise (develops wisdom) and automatically knows what to do in a wide variety of situations. Daniels (Maslows's Concept of Self-actualization, 2001) suggested that Maslow's ultimate conclusion that the highest levels of self-actualization are transcendent in their nature may be one of his most important contributions to the study of human behavior and motivation.

Needs and Ethics As They Once Related

Tim Bryce, business management consultant, ("Moral Decay," www.articlesbase.com, October 14 2008) stated that even some with a decent work environment, benefits, and organization lacked important values. Many just say, "It's not like it used to be." In other words, concerns have changed. Bryce said in the older days the following was illustrative of good employees:

1. "It used to be a person's word was his bond. If he made a verbal commitment, you could count on it.  Today, lying and deceit are commonplace in just about every corner of our society.

2. "We used to have dedicated workers who cared about their work and doggedly saw a task through to completion.  Now, we no longer associate our reputations with our work products.

3. "We used to respect our bosses and were loyal to our companies.  As long as you were employed by someone, you bit your tongue and endeavored to help the company succeed."

Needs and Ethics of Today

What, then, once procured, would cause people to ditch the highest levels of self-actualization and transcendence? What is happening to ethics? Many believe we are facing an ethics crisis in our world, from the highest levels of government, business and the media down through every echelon of society. At the root of violence, crime, and other features of an unsafe environment is the lack of basic moral and ethical values.

In a survey of high school and middle school students, the 2000 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, the Josephson Institute conducted a biennial national survey on the ethics of middle school and high school students. The report was based on written surveys administered by randomly selected schools throughout the country in 2000. The margin of error is +/- 3 percent. It includes responses from 15,877 middle and high school students. Among the findings were the following:

1. "Nearly half of the high school students and a quarter of the middle schoolers say they could get a gun if they wanted to. More than ten percent of all students say they actually took a weapon to school in the past year.

2. "Seventy percent of the middle school students and 68 percent of the high school students say they hit someone in the past year.

3. "Sixty-six percent of the high schoolers and nearly a quarter of the middle schoolers say they could get drugs if they wanted to.

4. "Forty percent of the high school males and 30 percent of the high school females say they stole something from a store in the past 12 months.

5. "Ninety-two percent of the high schoolers lied to their parents in the past 12 months, 78 percent lied to a teacher, and more than one in four say they would lie to get a job.

6. "Seventy-one percent of the high school students admit they cheated on an exam at least once in the past 12 months (45% say they did so two or more times)."

What Is Going On?
 

Robert Gordis ("The Revival of Religion and the Decay of Ethics," Christian Century, 1984) stated long ago that the populace reels under the "helplessness felt by the average individual in seeing himself or herself crushed by the Behemoth of power represented by all the levels of government bureaucracy, the wealth of massive corporations and the ubiquitous impact of the press, the radio and television. One is overwhelmed by the new, potentially dangerous technology, and feels outraged by the unfamiliar 'permissive' patterns of behavior of the younger generation today."

Most modern men and women do, then, lament the sense of alienation and loneliness that seems to be just part of their destiny. Feeling powerless to effect change, many accept poverty, illness and squalor.

Where is their safe harbor from fears, doubts and uncertainties. Many immerse themselves in religion to escape the drug- alcohol- and sex-centered culture of today. For them, religion and irreligion are simple affairs: “Where there is no faith, there are no answers; where there is faith, there are no questions.” They see sinners as failures in their society who will someday receive their just punishment.

And, to me, religion may well be needed at the core of ethical development; however, to decline that action is a necessary requirement of faith is unacceptable. To deny to help uphold the procurement of all needs for all mankind is unethical. In other words, to hide behind an inactive religious faith, one that does little to lift up the sinner, forever denies self-transcendence (Thank you, Mr. Maslow).

Some, unfortunately, go to church simply to absolve themselves of their sins from the preceding week, not to correct any personal character flaw and certainly not to attempt to assist others in correcting their flaws. Instead, after being "cleansed," these worshipers revert to their indiscretions. 

People must lead by example. The morally handicapped will always persist in attempting to undermine the system of values. Though society should truly penalize immoral violations as opposed to looking the other way, it should also encourage teamwork and reward accomplishments. In addition, constructive criticism is lacking while destructive criticism is mostly applauded by the masses.  Basically, mankind just needs some common sense and respect for the human spirit.

If a return to morality means giving of one's self and putting aside self interests for the common good of all, then such things as honor, courtesy, pride, respect, sacrifice, courage, dedication, commitment, loyalty, honesty, perseverance, integrity, and professionalism must rebound. Perhaps, Maslow's model speaks most loudly of the lack of growth needs (review the hierarchy pyramid) in the 21st century. I, for one, believe those growth needs require new commitments to long-respected virtues. We are all responsible for lifting mankind to the peak of the hierarchy of needs. To reach the summit and deny needed assistance to others is unthinkable and, quite frankly, unacceptable.