The Switch

Seven years ago I took my first plunge out of an airplane. Skydive Oregon took me up to 15,000 feet, strapped me onto an instructor, then threw me out the door. My instructor – who, incidentally looks an awful lot like Val Kilmer – counted down as the wind roared through my ears (literally). Three. Two. One. And then I’m freefalling. Instructor-Kilmer suggested, while we were on the ground, that as soon as we leave the plane that I should look up. Which I did. And it was the trippiest thing I’ve ever seen. Zoom – there goes the plane flying by right above my head and getting smaller as I plummet.

The exact moment my body went from potential energy sitting at the door of the plane, to the moment my body became kinetic energy as it started to freefall, is something I call The Switch.

That moment also changed my way of thinking forever.

The Switch can be pretty much utilized for any change of thinking. When nothing is the same again, when one cannot go back to a previous life, when you learn something and what you thought you knew before can never be reconciled. That’s the switch. Leaving home; buying your first house; a child being born; a friend dying; learning that you’re adopted.

I think one of the best examples of the switch is this quote from Garden State:

Andrew: You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home is gone.

Sam: I still feel at home in my house.

Andrew: You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something.

Can there be a switch in societal / group thinking? I believe so.

Change in a society happens incrementally, to be sure; however, there comes a point when the previous mindset simply doesn’t make sense from a value perspective. Although there are still a few holdouts, socially we abhor slavery. We believe the weekend should be for rest and relaxation, not for additional work. We believe marriage should be about love, and not arranged or a bride simply “taken.” We believe the earth is round; that illness comes from viruses or bacteria, and not from evil spirits; that there are more than four elements.

All of these are societal changes in thinking, yet they all started with one person switching his or her mindset.This is the part of history that I find fascinating; learning the stories behind the stories and facts. Who were the people who first got fed up with the status quo and started questioning? Who were the people who first started making change?

Someone must have finally had a “switch” moment, and said, ‘I’m done with slavery. It’s abhorrent, and I can no longer sit quietly and let it happen.’ Someone must have been the first to organize abolitionists, someone must have been the first to send Letters to the Editor and publicly expressed their disdain for slavery. Someone.

Someone must have finally said, ‘I’m done with arranged marriages. I love this other person, and I believe marriage should be based on love.’ Someone must have stood his or her ground, to be the first to proclaim love as their driving force. Someone must have risked alienating his or her family, or risked physical punishment, or risked his or her life in order to prove that love is more important than dowry or power. Someone.

Here’s the deal:

Every change in history, every change in thinking, every change in the human condition started with one person.

One person.

One person experienced The Switch, and was willing to roll with it, to vocalize it, to move on it. And that one person can – and has – changed the world.

Have you experienced The Switch? If so, what do you plan on doing with it? For what change will you be the advocate?