Kalgoorlie Miner: (6) Fractures

In the glamorous and high action world of geology, it is recognised that observations made on a small scale are usually replicated on a large scale, and vice-versa.

For example, one can observe millimetre-wide fractures in rocks on Nannygoat Hill and proceed to speculate that there is a much larger-scale fracture nearby. And of course there is - the kilometre-wide Boulder Lefroy Fault Zone (BLFZ), which links the gold deposits of St Ives with those at Paddington, passing through South Kalgoorlie Mines and the Superpit along the way.

The BLFZ was the driving force behind the formation of these deposits over 2 billion years ago, and is therefore to be thanked for founding the glorious City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and it's most sacred institutions: Race Round, skimpy barmaids, that bloke who tried to drive to Perth backwards, and of course the almighty Railways Football Club.

As mentioned the principle also works in reverse, so if I were to put the rock from Nannygoat Hill under a microscope, I would observe that each fracture is comprised of thousands of smaller fractures.

"So what?" I hear you say, "I stopped caring about rocks when old Tommy Smith threw one at my head in kindergarten."

Well, loyal and learned reader, stop shaking your fist at the sky and cursing Tommy Smith, because now that I've laid the geological groundwork, I want you to consider the application of this phenomenon to the worlds of business and politics.

So do you think that the large-scale actions of political and business leaders are reflected in the behaviour of individual constituents or employees? I think so.

A positive example from business might be a boss who catches the Prospector to Perth for a meeting, stays in a three-star hotel, and eats breakfast, lunch and dinner at Dodgy Gino's Coffee and Kebab Emporium. Such a boss can ask for cost savings and hard work from employees without inspiring contempt and cynicism, because he or she has led from the front.

Negative examples abound in the world of politics.

Can a Prime Minister who presides over pre-emptive strikes against other nations, legitimately be surprised or disgusted by a bouncer who pre-emptively strikes out at drunken nightclub patrons?

Can a Foreign Affairs Minister who turns a blind eye to torture, unashamedly scold a child for pulling the wings off a fly?

Can a local Federal Member who supports the oil-grabbing war in Iraq, cry injustice when a colleague takes his Caramello Koala from the communal office fridge?

I say no to all of these questions.

A fracture in values at the highest level inevitably causes a network of smaller fractures to spread throughout the lower levels - what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

The flipside though, is that if enough members of the gaggle are willing to change their own attitudes and behaviours - towards their environment, workplace, community, or anything else - then they can force the powerful geese to change. In life, as in geology, the microscopic controls the macroscopic.