Wolff’s Law

They call it a law, though no parliament passed it. Wolff’s Law is a law of behaviour, and it enforces itself.

The law describes what people actually do, not what they say they do. Watch any office, any market, any household for a month, and you will see it operating like a ceiling fan — unnoticed, constant, moving the air for everyone.

Stand at a tea stall during a big cricket match and you will see a hundred strangers become one family in an evening. The same crowd, given a different match, can split over a surname.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. You will meet this idea again this week, wearing different clothes. Now you will recognise it.