The indispensable and often missing value of caring …

Whether it’s managing your personal life, or wanting to impact your little part of the world, nothing changes for the better until someone cares.

In fact, if someone doesn’t care, then persons, places, and things will deteriorate. Check out this insightful report by George Kelling and James Wilson about the “Broken Window Theory”:

• Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in rundown ones. Window-breaking does not necessarily occur on a large scale because some areas are inhabited by determined window-breakers whereas others are populated by window-lovers; rather, one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares.

Philip Zimbardo, a Stanford psychologist, reported in 1969 on some experiments testing the broken-window theory. He arranged to have an automobile without license plates parked with its hood up on a street in the Bronx and a comparable automobile on a street in Palo Alto, California. The car in the Bronx was attacked by “vandals” within ten minutes of its “abandonment.” Within twenty-four hours, virtually everything of value had been removed. Then random destruction began — windows were smashed, parts torn off, upholstery ripped. Children began to use the car as a playground. The car in Palo Alto sat untouched for more than a week. Then Zimbardo smashed part of it with a sledgehammer. Soon, passersby were joining in. Within a few hours, the car had been turned upside down and utterly destroyed.

Untended property becomes fair game for people out for fun or plunder and even for people who ordinarily would not dream of doing such things and who probably consider themselves law-abiding. Vandalism can occur anywhere once communal barriers — the sense of mutual regard and the obligations of civility — are lowered by actions that seem to signal that “no one cares.”

Municipal governments and community watch groups the world over have adopted the “Broken Window Theory” as the basis of their community improvement strategies, taking care to quickly replace broken windows, paint over graffiti, and clean up litter. They want to send the clear message that “someone cares!”

People the world over are in desperate need of knowing that someone really, truly cares!

Caring is supposed to be part of the vital imprint of the church on this world. The idea of being a disciple of Jesus Christ and not caring about the well-being of others is a contradiction. Over and over again, the idea of living out genuine care for others is broadcast throughout the New Testament as a basic standard for Christians …

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other,” John 13:34.

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,'” Galatians 5:13-14.

“Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone — especially to those in the family of faith,” Galatians 6:10.

“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too,” Philippians 2:4.

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well’ — but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless,” James 2:14-17.

If you want to contribute to making this world a better place, you’ll have to care for the people in it. You’ll have to care about people who are lost, who are broken, who are suffering and in need. You’ll have to love them like Jesus has loved us.

Is that what you’re doing?

Scotty