News stories out of India today report the euphoria in the Indian stock market over the election there. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Congress Party has secured a commanding number of seats in the parliamentary body for the next five years. This means that he will not have to enlist as many allies to form a majority, and, according to some observers, this will lead to greater stability in the government.
All of this good news had a dramatic effect on the Indian stock market. The market rose by 2,099 points, or almost 20% of the market value. This meteoric rise caused “circuit breakers†in the stock market to kick in, meaning that no more trading is allowed for the rest of the day.
When an electrical circuit gets overheated, the circuit breaker throws the switch and the circuit is shut down until it can cool off. In the same way, “circuit breakers†in the stock market flip the switch and halt trading until the buying frenzy slows down and cools off. This allows the market to settle down and reevaluate what is going on. It prevents overreactions and brings greater stability. Circuit breakers are a good thing, whether you are talking about electrical circuits or stock markets.
Maybe we ought to build some “circuit breakers†into our lives. A circuit breaker in our life would be activated when we, by our words and by our actions, start generating more heat than light. They would shut us down until we were thinking more clearly.
We don’t call it a “circuit breaker†when we are dealing with children. We call it a “time out.†A time out gets a child out of a situation when he is overreacting and gives him some time to contemplate life before reengaging. I’m not sure at what age we no longer go to time out, but it may be a good thing to raise the age limit on the time out.
The writer of Ecclesiastes said that there is “a time to be silent and a time to speak†(Ecc. 3:7). James said, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires†(James 1:19-20).
I heard about a woman who was very upset over some matters that had come up in her church. She went to talk to her pastor about it. He listened as she let out her anger and criticism about these matters. As the pastor listened, he came up with a brilliant idea. He felt that she needed some perspective on these problems and some wisdom given by people who were not so close to the situation. So, he suggested that she call and talk to three of her former pastors about the problems that she was encountering. She said that she could never do that. He said, “Of course you can. Why couldn’t you talk to them about these matters?†She said, “Have you ever heard of restraining orders?â€
We need to practice restraint. We need circuit breakers to keep us from overreacting. Or, as James put it, we need to “be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.â€
