The Broken Window Theory

Shattered glass.

It’s a mess to clean up, and a real pain to repair. But when rocks go through windows, you had better pull out the tool kit or you’ll have a much bigger problem on your hands.

Take a tour of a major metropolis, and you’ll notice a striking contrast: Some buildings are beautiful and well maintained, while others are ugly and covered with graffiti. You might be surprised to learn that it isn’t the age of a building that causes it to fall apart, or its location, or even the finances of its owner. Instead, there is an intriguing trigger mechanism at work here, one that quickly turns a lovely, well-preserved, inhabited building into an ugly, dilapidated, abandoned hulk.

A broken window. A single shattered window can trigger the downward spiral of a onceproud urban structure.

Researchers in the field of crime and urban decay have discovered that one shattered pane, left un-repaired for a significant period of time, causes area residents and residents of the building to feel a sense of abandonment. They begin to believe that the owner doesn’t care about them or the building, or they believe the building has been abandoned, freeing them to toss a brick through another window.

Soon there’s litter and junk collecting in the doorways. Graffiti appears, and no one cares enough to scrub it off. Serious structural damage begins, and in a relatively short time the building becomes damaged beyond the owner’s desire to fix it. The sense of abandonment felt by the residents suddenly becomes reality.

All because of a piece of shattered glass.

This “Broken Window Theory” has inspired police departments in New York City and other urban areas to crack down on the small stuff in order to keep out the big stuff.

By applying the Broken Window Theory to crime several years ago, New York City reduced murders from 2000 a year to fewer than 600. The City started with “Squeegee guys” – the annoying people who used to run up to your car when you were sitting at a traffic light, wash your window with filthy water and rags, and then demand payment. Growing up in New Jersey, we ran into them all the time when we went into the city. Basically, you had to just about get out of the car and angrily wave them away before they reached your vehicle. But if they somehow made it to your car with their squeegee, you had to throw some money at them in order to make them go away. Well, the NYPD started arresting them for jaywalking and – surprise, surprise – a huge percentage of them were found to be felons.

It turns out that murderers and muggers tend to break a lot of little laws, too. So when you crack down on the little infractions – when you fix the smashed windows – you end up catching criminals that otherwise would have gotten away. A critic of the NYPD said that arresting subway turnstile jumpers was a waste of police effort when they should be chasing drug pushers. Well, guess what? They discovered that drug pushers were part of the turnstile-jumping crowd.

Attacking small and petty problems is rarely a waste of time, according to Broken Window Theory. Instead, it helps you to manage the major issues, and prevent the condition of your building – or your city – or your self – from spiraling out of control.

The apostle Paul seems to have this theory in mind in this morning’s Epistle. Notice that he doesn’t focus on the big theological issues of the Christian faith. No, he advises the Thessalonians to attack petty problems and fix the cracked windows of the Christian community.

“Now we command you, beloved,” writes Paul, “to keep away from believers who are living in idleness” (2 Thessalonians 3:6). Paul reminds them that he himself was never idle when he was visiting their community, but instead he worked night and day and paid for his own bread so that he would not be a burden to anyone.

Paul did this to set an example for the Thessalonians, and quicker than a New York minute, he lays down the law: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” (3:10).

Pope John XXIII was once asked by a reporter how many people worked at the Vatican. The Holy Father thought for a moment, then replied, “Oh, about half.”

I’m sure the members of the church at Thessalonica had many good excuses, just as you and I do when there is work to be done. Churches are a living testimony to Paretto’s principle that 20% of people do 80% of the work.

As one wag put it, “Work fascinates me. I can sit and watch it for hours!”

“I don’t mind going to work,” said another. “But that 8-hour wait to go home is awful!”

“Hard work may not kill me,” another said, “but why take a chance?”

The problem with idleness, though, is that it’s a broken window. Left uncorrected, it creates larger and more destructive difficulties. Grandmother’s counsel still rings true: Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

So where is the sin of idleness creating big problems for you?

Right now you’re probably thinking, “Idleness? There aren’t enough hours in the day for me. I don’t have any idle time.”

Yes, most people feel that they’re busy beyond belief, not idle. Their lives are full of sales meetings, parent/teacher conferences, athletic contests or concerts for their children, volunteer work at church, and the list goes on and on.

Here’s the deal: What’s the difference between being idle, and being busy doing unimportant stuff? There’s no difference. Paul alludes to this when he says, “They are not busy; they are busybodies” (3:11 NIV).

No, attending piano recitals and soccer games, and doing your job, and monitoring the stock market are not meaningless things. They’re wise, good things. But somewhere in our lives, we have important time decisions to make, and if we don’t repair the damaged windows, that is, clean up the nonproductive, ill-spent activities, the whole structure of our lives is going to crash and burn.

This catastrophe theory will emerge in broken relationships, a soured marriage, a barren spiritual life and a lack of time to do things that nurture both yourself and your family and community. “Brothers and sisters,” Paul concludes, “do not be weary in doing what is right” (3:13).

So, again, there is the question: Where are your broken windows? What needs to be repaired? What have you been meaning to address in your life that for some reason you still have not gotten around to? What would a friend, a sibling, a parent, or a spouse say are the broken windows in your life? Other people can often see the damage better than we can.

When we crack down on the small problems in order to keep out the big problems, we are doing our work quietly and faithfully and well. When we fix our fractured windows so that our personal spiritual structure will remain attractive and healthy and strong, we are following Paul’s advice to “not be weary in doing what is right.”

So let’s take a close and personal look at ourselves, and determine where we need cleaning. When we acknowledge the cracks in our windows, we can then be restored to wholeness by the gift of forgiveness. Because God wants us, not to be shattered, but to be solid and strong.