With the one year anniversary of COVID lockdowns in the rearview mirror, people are looking forward to getting out and enjoying this thing called life.
That is why I was intrigued by an article I recently came across about lessons learned from the “drowning rats experiment.”
In the 1950’s, Johns Hopkins Professor Curt Richter conducted research to observe the differences between how domesticated and wild rats reacted when they were put in jars that were half-filled with water. He monitored the length of time they would swim before they gave up and drowned.
Richter’s research focused on these questions: “What kills these rats?” and “Why do all of the fierce, aggressive, wild rats die promptly on immersion while only a small number of the similarly treated, tame, domesticated rats die?”
Interestingly, in the initial research, while three of the domesticated rats died within a matter of minutes, nine were able to swim for much longer. By contrast, even though the wild rats had much greater swimming ability, every single one of them died rather quickly.
But Richter wasn’t done. He got some more rats and modified the experiment. He still put these rats in the jar but just before they could drown, he picked them up, held them a little while, and then put them back in the water.
Rescuing the rats made a big difference! Specifically, the rats that got this brief rescue ended up swimming much longer than the rats that were left alone. Even though they went underwater, they quickly recovered and learned that they were not doomed, that the situation was not lost, that there might be a helping hand at the ready. And this helping hand gave them a reason to keep swimming, so they did not go under or give up.
He wrote that, “The situation of these rats scarcely seems one demanding fight or flight—it is rather one of hopelessness…. When the rats are in a situation against which they have no defense…they seem literally to ‘give up.’” But when the rats learned that the situation was not hopeless, they did much better.
The answer to the question about why some rats survived and others didn’t was, in a word, “HOPE.” As Richter noted: “After elimination of hopelessness, the rats do not die.” The article concluded, “even though there are many differences between humans, and rats, we all need a reason to keep swimming.”
Let’s be honest, in the emerging post-pandemic world, many of us (myself included) need a reason to keep on swimming. And maybe that is why as we take a break from the weekly Word of Encouragement to commemorate Good Friday and celebrate Easter, I was drawn to a story that emphasizes the importance of hope.
This Word of Encouragement goes out to people with many different faiths and people for whom faith is not a factor in their life. But one of the things I have learned from my travels is that all of the major faiths of the world have a common attribute: they can instill a sense of hope.
For our family, Good Friday and Easter are powerful reminders that even in the pits of despair, we can have a hope and confidence that things will get better.
In a powerful message, “It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming!” Tony Campolo noted that Good Friday is a solemn day for Christians. As Mary and the disciples looked upon the Cross, things looked very bleak. But just as Sundays always follow Fridays, we can draw strength from the fact that even in the darkest of times, the sun will still rise. And on Easter Sunday, we can celebrate the day that God’s own son, Jesus, rose and conquered death, so that we can face the future with hope and confidence.
In the book of Hebrews we are told to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Those are pretty powerful words and can be a great reason to keep on swimming.
