The elected officials come up with a solution that involves more enforcement of the policies that exists, higher fines for those who are caught not cleaning up after their dogs, and other penalties. This will not solve the problem for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it’s never going to be a police priority to cite a dog owner for not picking up after their dog (and it shouldn’t be), and it’s difficult to catch people in the act. Plus, without some entertaining, engaging education around the why behind the changes, people won’t see the point.
But what if dog owners decided to be great ambassadors for their people - other dog owners? If we knew our behavior was contributing to a negative impression of our town, and was the reason for an increase in fines, and may have impact on our public safety budget, would we change that behavior?
As I hiked down the mountain behind my house with my friend, who is not a dog-owner, we saw a filled poop-bag next to the trail. I could tell my friend was tempted to judge the person who left it there, her expression said what her words didn’t.
I’ve done that before, I’ve left the dog poop bag near the trail on my way up so I don’t have to carry it for the entire hike, and then come back down this way to pick it up on my way home. I have to admit, though, that sometimes I forget, and come back down via a different path. That’s why (and I bent to pick up the other dog-owner’s poop bag), sometimes I call myself the Dog Poop Fairy, and pick these up when I see them.
There. Did you hear that? I explained why people leave the bags, admitted that I’m sometimes at fault, and then demonstrated what a good ambassador for dog owners look like. It wasn’t hard.
Even if no one sees your dog poop on public or private property, you still represent all dog owners when you don’t pick that shit up.
Are you a good ambassador for the people you represent at any given time? It’s not easy, and it’s not fair that people generalize so quickly based on first and physical impressions, but that’s the way it is. If people know me to be a dog owner, I represent all dog owners with my behavior. If people know me to be Jewish, a woman, a public sector employee, then I represent all of those people and my behavior has an impact on all of those people.
And on the flip side of this:
When was the last time you generalized a judgment based on an experience with a single person in a specific situation? Did you notice yourself passing a judgment on all dog-owners, on all Millennials, on all New Yorkers or Parisians based on very limited experience with people who fit that description?
My friend Amber Johnson offered some guidelines at the beginning of the Women’s Leadership Network annual conference a few days ago, and the one that really struck me was this:
Don’t freeze someone in time.
Amber asked the audience of around 150 women in the room whether they had ever said or done something they wish they could undo. She asked if they ever said something stupid and rash. Everyone in the room raised their hands, of course.
And then she explained that we often freeze someone in time – making a judgment about them based on one thing they said or did, and allowing that judgment to impact their relationship with the person. She suggested that when we heard something in the room we weren’t sure of, to ask clarifying questions before jumping to conclusions about the person.
Addressing these challenges requires we look at them from both points of view: Am I a good ambassador for my people? Am I making judgments of a person or on a whole community of people based on limited experience?
This week, think about all the communities of people you represent. Try being aware of your behavior in terms of how you’re representing those people and yourself. And try to acknowledge your own snap judgments based on limited experiences with certain people.
I certainly don’t like to be lumped in with a description of “all Americans are” one thing or another. And when I hear people say anything, good or bad, about an entire community of people: all Americans, all Parisians, all Californians, I think about the diversity of this incredible world, and how unlikely it is that any community could possibly be ALL one thing or ALL another.