The Night Watch

A neighborhood organized a night watch. Every household agreed the watch was necessary. But staffing it meant losing sleep.

The first month, all families took turns. The second month, a few discovered that skipping their shift had no consequence — the watch continued with the others. By the third month, only the most dutiful families showed up.

Those families grew resentful. “We’re guarding the whole neighborhood while others sleep.” One by one, they quit too.

The watch collapsed not because anyone opposed it, but because the cost was private while the benefit was public. Each person’s absence was invisible. The cumulative absence was not.