What Does It Take to Get People to Change?
Something Catastrophic, Perhaps
America’s feathers are a little ruffled by the murder of a UnitedHealthcare CEO.
The reactions to the incident are overwhelmingly unsympathetic. This happened right after Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield denied coverage for more than a designated amount of anesthesia during surgery — a decree that caused a lot of pent-up aggression to rear its ugly head.
But let’s do a quick flashback, shall we? What was it like 20 years ago?
More than twenty years ago, I retired and started an international housesitting business. For over four years, I lived everywhere but the United States. I experienced firsthand the vast difference in the cost of healthcare while living abroad.
To this day, I keep a dentist and a doctor in Spain, where I also lease an apartment several months each year. For years, I’ve tried to tell my American friends and acquaintances that we have the most expensive healthcare in the world.
Usually, I was met with either indifference or denial. Sometimes an argument would follow.
Time passed, and now some of the same people who used to defend our corrupt healthcare system are calling for change. I honestly don’t think it was anything I said that changed their minds; I think people tend to rebel against the status quo when difficulties hit close to home.
Let me explain.
Change is a process, and generally speaking, it’s a terribly slow one. It can take thirty years or more from the time a new idea is shared with the public until it’s accepted and normalized. Often, the very people who resisted the change can’t even remember that they were once adamantly opposed to the idea. Because the process is so tedious and long, change creeps up on them. They think it’s always been this way. They can’t even recall when it wasn’t. Such is the human brain. You know, that great big brain we’re all so proud of that often sabotages our lives. Yeah, that one.
But there’s another type of change. Let’s call it forced change.
This is usually brought about by something catastrophic, like a drought, a shortage of a natural resource, an economic disaster, or a plague like COVID. Suddenly, things get so dire that we’re backed into a corner and must institute change in order to feel safe or even survive. This kind of change is far more rapid, and fewer people resist it because they don’t have a choice.
I suppose a dictator could enforce rapid change, too.
Like most of you, I, too, am waiting to see what the next four years will be like. We have the potential to see forced changes at all levels, including an authoritarian approach to making people fall in line. However, I hope we’re not so far gone that there’s no turning back.
Just like the recent ruckus surrounding our corrupt healthcare system, I hope that the next four years will change a lot of people’s minds about many things. Life is about to get pretty tough, and with any luck, that should force the much-needed change. If the reaction to the murder of the CEO is any indication, people are fed up.
Maybe this is what we need.
If enough people find themselves hurting, perhaps they’ll wake up and resist. Maybe they’ll realize that they’ve voted against their own best interests. Maybe they’ll undergo a metamorphosis and unite against the oligarchy that is set to take not just the lion’s share, but all of it away from the rest of us.
Maybe.
Or maybe we’ll find out it’s too late — that we gave it all away and are now stuck for another thirty years in a grim existence. We’ll then look back on the good old days when the middle class still existed and weep.
It could go either way, my friends.
Teresa is an author and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
