Tipping Points
Recognizing them, reaching them, and other "tips"
Ever since Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book The Tipping Point, people have been talking (and writing) about the various “tipping points” in life—times when things that started small suddenly explode and are everywhere. There are, of course, negative tipping points: a global pandemic such as COVID-19 is one. And we are rapidly approaching a climate change tipping point of no return (anyone checked the weather recently? Scary stuff!)
But there are positive tipping points as well. Inventions like the printing press and electric light (in short order, news and ideas traveled rapidly around the world, and the darkness of night was dispelled). Slavery, child labor, everyone smoking like chimneys—all were acceptable in society, until suddenly they weren’t. The Beatles were just another British band, until they became THE seminal band of a generation.
Our lives also have tipping points. When Steve and I started our family, all at once we were no longer a party of two, and never would be again (positive tipping point, btw!) But as the late great humorist Jean Kerr put it, “Now the thing about having a baby - and I can't be the first person to have noticed this - is that thereafter you HAVE it.” That was impressed upon us shortly after Sheridan’s birth, one evening when we began to stroll down to the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach for some after-dinner ice cream. We were a full block away from our cottage when it dawned on us: we had a newborn baby sleeping back there! Oops! (we never lost track of a child again, glad to report).
Tipping points can also be shifts in attitude or perception. Until I was 44 years old, I never had a passport. I had completely convinced myself that my dreams of world travel were just that, forever unattainable fantasies. But then came a trip to Jamaica, followed by mission trips to Costa Rica and Guatemala, and… look at me now!! We’re planning our Spring 2024 adventure in England and Scotland (which will be our 9th and 10th European countries visited).
One of my favorite books is Helene Hanff’s classic 84 Charing Cross Road , the delightful true story of a 20-year correspondence between a young New York writer and a British bookseller. I used to re-read the letters and imagine poking around in Marks and Co. bookstore. In April, we will be in London, staying in…Charing Cross Road, Covent Garden! Talk about a dream come true!!
Here’s a fun look at another kind of “tipping point” (disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. I am actually a GENEROUS tipper)
HUMOR ESSAY: 10 SUPER Ways to Thank Your Server—Without Tipping!
BLOG PREVIEW: Steve’s been getting a good bit of film work recently (by which I mean, his final, brief performance is captured after endless hours of sitting around on set and waiting.) He’s enjoying it. I cannot imagine anything WORSE. I argue my point over at Working Title tomorrow!
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
What wonderful thing are YOU on the brink of this week? It can happen! Happy “tipping,” my friends!