I was heavily delayed flying home late on Friday night: with thousands of others i spent over two hours queueing for security, and tempers were fraying. Two people behind me in the queue spent those two hours being abusive to any staff that passed, and complaining bitterly (which did not make the queue go faster, in case anyone was wondering). After the first hour, they found a friend: another man who was happy to spend his time bitterly complaining and trying to pick a fight. It was altogether tedious, but i did find myself thinking how compellingly, and easily, these three men had managed to bond in their opposition, and move into unpleasant behaviour.
In microcosm, it speaks to culture: that it is what we make it in the moment, that ‘belonging’ may as easily come in opposition as in consensus, and that within groups behaviour can skew to extremes, as each member permits, and encourages, the others. The mechanisms are the same, whether to complain together about an airline, or to party together in New Orleans. The key word is ‘together’.
We come together, and find common voice and culture.
Use your sixty seconds today to consider one of two questions:
Where do you ‘come together’? And can you identify any behaviours, or language, which is a result of that togetherness?
How could those behaviours be countered, without reinforcing the oppositional divide?
These are big questions, central questions of culture really, but nonetheless, we can find power in small thoughts and actions.
Day #168