The Schoolhouse Beach Principle
Music by: Terry Breen
A Beautiful Backdrop
If you are from Wisconsin or have ever visited, you may have heard of Door County. Famous for cherries and art festivals, among other things, Door County paints a picturesque backdrop for even the most mundane of days. The beauty of the landscape has been celebrated for decades and the change of colors in the leaves every autumn draws photographers and nature lovers from all over the world. Those willing to go the extra mile may have even made it to Ellison Bay and caught a short ferry ride up to Washington Island.
Approximately 35 square miles, Washington Island is home to just 780 year-round residents and the population grows to around 2000 in the warm months. There is so much to do there, and you can easily lose track of time just taking it all in. Of all the places to go on the island, from a Scandinavian church to world renowned lavender fields, many find it difficult to choose where to go and not miss. If you ever have the opportunity, go to Schoolhouse Beach, it holds a profound lesson that applies to so many distinct aspects of life.
A Gift from Niagara
When you first get to Schoolhouse beach, you'll notice it is strikingly different than most other beaches. This beach is made up of perfectly smooth and rounded limestone rocks, one of five beaches in the world like this. Left as a result of the Niagara Escarpment, this small, protected harbor was originally used as the island’s main port and in 1850 a log schoolhouse was built on the beach, which is responsible for the beach’s name today. Now I want to emphasize that these rocks are not like your normal rock. Mostly flat and round, almost perfectly smooth, and about the size of your palm. It’s the kind of rock you would dream of as a kid, skipping rocks across a pond.
The problem arose not with intention but with awareness. If you look at pictures of Schoolhouse beach you will see a stone beach that tappers off into pine trees and as you go inland the rocks start mingling with dirt and pine needles and eventually pavement. Nothing abnormal besides the lack of sand. But if you look at much older pictures of Schoolhouse beach, you'll notice that the stones used to extend much further into the forest than they do now, like 25+ yards further. Which begs the question, where did the rocks go?
Unintended Consequences
I don’t think anyone aims to ruin a good thing on purpose. I just don't think we fully understand how impactful our actions are, not only in our immediate surroundings and friends and family, but in future generations too. The decisions you make today can and will contribute to your tomorrow, and it snowballs. Soon after Door County became a tourist destination in the 1850s, Washington Island started attracting tourists of their own. It wasn't long before hundreds came to visit every year. Now as many as 3,500 people ride the ferry a day, on a busy weekend. Each one of those visitors, each with their own intentions, each misunderstanding their individual impact.
For decades it was common for people that visited the beach to take a rock home as a souvenir of their journey. On first thought, nothing to concern yourself with. It's just one rock, and you're right, one rock isn’t going to be missed. But how many times can we say that before it becomes an issue. Because for Schoolhouse beach it was just one rock, a few hundred times, every year, for almost 90 years. It makes me wonder when exactly people started to notice that the beach was receding. What were the conversations like discussing concerns about the eroding beach?
How it Applies
It is this way of thinking that I find so prevalent in today’s world. Either willful ignorance or blatant disregard for others lends justification to the actions of the individual. However, in hindsight this comes at the expense of everyone. In the example we just looked at, Schoolhouse beach, one of just five beaches in the world like it and it has been permanently disfigured as a result.
In a smaller, more everyday scenario we can look at trick-or-treating, everyone loves candy but not everyone has someone to stay home and hand out candy to the kids that come through. They typically find themselves leaving a bowl of sweets with a sign that says how many to take. Before doorbell cameras were commonplace these candy bowls would usually be emptied in the first hour by one kid with a backpack. Now these kids aren’t thinking about how many other kids don't get candy because of their actions, and there’s usually plenty of candy to go around so it isn’t truly missed, but that’s just one example.
On a more serious note, we can look at the effect this has on our political climate. Without concerning ourselves with affiliation we can observe that for the most part America runs on a two party political system. Sure, there are independents and other parties, but they usually don’t garner much attention. At least in my experience when talking politics with others, and considering third party politicians, I often get confronted with the same line of thinking. “I'm just one person; we will never have enough people to vote third party for it to be viable.” And I hate to say it, but it is true, and it will continue to be true as long as we hold this style of thinking. It’s almost like I'm talking about Christmas magic, if you truly believe, that's all it takes.
The Ripple Effect
For the Beach, nobody took the time to consider the effect one person would have on taking one rock. On Halloween kids aren't worried about how much candy the other kids get when there’s an unsupervised bowl on a stoop. In politics it is imperative to realize how our choices are going to affect generations to come, because it will. There are so many other aspects of life that can be improved upon by understanding the effects of one person's actions.
As a thought exercise, take time to consider how your daily life can have rippling effects on others. If you went to a café, what kind of impact do you think you had on the barista's day? How did your choice of café affect your community? I could go on for ages and another time I will discuss how the Schoolhouse beach principle applies to the idea of conscious consumerism.
Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I would love to hear examples of how this idea applies to you and your experience. Join in the comments to let me know and be sure to follow my social media to stay up to date.
