An old comedy tactic is known as the double-take. The comic sees somebody, reacts out of habit, turns away to go about his or her business, then realizes who it was and reacts far more dramatically the second time. Those of you who enjoy Ferris Bueller remember the doofy father in that movie seeing his son playing hooky. And before he gets a second look to confirm his suspicions, Ferris slips away, undetected.

The time lag is critical to its humorous effect. There has to be a pause, even a fraction of a second, before the person really grasps what he or she has just witnessed. Imagine the double-take in real life, when a Polish guy visiting a brothel discovered his wife working there. That supposedly just happened.

Psychologists tell us to expect a lag between experiencing certain things and really understanding them. The new experience could be so weird, so unexpected, so out of context that it takes a moment to process. I’ve seen students out in public and blanked on their name, because I associate them only with the classroom.

These time lags also occur because the new information is so complex that the brain has to work at understanding. It often takes a while to comprehend difficult lessons. We do not always learn immediately. Instead, we go through something called a Conceptual Delay.

A conceptual delay can take a few seconds, or it can last a lifetime. Some people never catch on. They struggle with Calculus or whole life insurance or the philosophical problem of evil. Teachers have to account for this phenomenon, which is why they build in “soak time” to their plans. This is the amount of time needed to live with knowledge before it really sinks in.

Even once a person understands a novel predicament, there will be a time delay before figuring out what to do. You have to assess the situation, weigh your options, think things through. You might be too puzzled to act, or you might be deliberating. In either case, the conceptual delay extends longer and longer.

Something of the sort happens to communities, especially communities unused to change. It happens in churches, for example, and in small towns. They build elaborate patterns in part to establish routine, trust, familiarity, so that disruptions lead to feathers and fuss. “We’ve never done it that way before….”

Something of the sort is happening to Decatur County, on several fronts. A variety of stressors hit us. Property taxes are different. The economy has swung in new directions, with one large employer arriving and another apparently going away. Traffic patterns will be affected, including air traffic. Consumer habits will tilt. Fortunes will be made and lost.

As a community, we are undergoing a long conceptual delay, a double-take about what is really going on. In order to avoid being comical, we probably have to talk about these things and learn from each other, to shorten the delay and take actions consistent with a new reality.