"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"
-Nelson Mandela
-Nelson Mandela
The fisherman metaphor
"When we talk about primary prevention, we think of the story of the fisherman who was fishing on a river and sees somebody struggling to swim, floating down the river. He puts down his fishing gear and jumps in and pulls that person ashore. Gets back to fishing.
A few minutes later, he sees somebody else floating down the river, struggling to swim. He does the same thing. After several more rescues he decides to go back upstream on the river and find out what’s going on. Why are these people falling into the river? What can be done to prevent this, so that we’re not dealing with the consequences later?
The fisherman decided to investigate. He walked up river until he found a place where the trail was very narrow. It was easy to lose your footing unless you were careful. As he observed the trail, he struck upon a simple solution. The fisherman invited his neighbors to go with him to build a fence along the narrow part of the trail to keep people from falling into the river.
From that day on, the man no longer had to worry about people in the river, and spent the rest of his days simply fishing. From the fisherman’s tale, we can identify several things… First, the fisherman identified the problem—people were falling into the river. Next, the fisherman did a thorough investigation and found a problem with the trail that put people at risk for falling into the river. The fisherman’s solution involved enlisting the help of his neighbors to build a fence that would keep people out of the river.
After putting the fence in place and seeing that no one else had fallen into the river, he was able to determine that his solution was successful and future problems were prevented."
-Veto Violence Principles of Prevention Guide
A few minutes later, he sees somebody else floating down the river, struggling to swim. He does the same thing. After several more rescues he decides to go back upstream on the river and find out what’s going on. Why are these people falling into the river? What can be done to prevent this, so that we’re not dealing with the consequences later?
The fisherman decided to investigate. He walked up river until he found a place where the trail was very narrow. It was easy to lose your footing unless you were careful. As he observed the trail, he struck upon a simple solution. The fisherman invited his neighbors to go with him to build a fence along the narrow part of the trail to keep people from falling into the river.
From that day on, the man no longer had to worry about people in the river, and spent the rest of his days simply fishing. From the fisherman’s tale, we can identify several things… First, the fisherman identified the problem—people were falling into the river. Next, the fisherman did a thorough investigation and found a problem with the trail that put people at risk for falling into the river. The fisherman’s solution involved enlisting the help of his neighbors to build a fence that would keep people out of the river.
After putting the fence in place and seeing that no one else had fallen into the river, he was able to determine that his solution was successful and future problems were prevented."
-Veto Violence Principles of Prevention Guide
