Belonging

I just got back from a shopping experience at the mall where a young salesperson enthusiastically told me ”We pride ourselves in our service.” I thought she was too young to really know who “We” are.

A son who used to be leery of big bad business recently landed a job with a top Fortune company, and with just a week under his belt, talks about how “We always try to do the right thing, and that makes me happy to be part of this company.”

Belonging is a great motivator to begin living outside of your own ego. Like fish in a huge school, belonging to a larger, identifiable group gives us security so that we don’t waste energy defending ourselves to threats that we are more vunerable to when alone. Belonging thus allows us to focus on the things we care about and the things we do well.

What team do you belong to and what team do you aspire to?

Minor League

• Team Me?
• Team Family?
• Team Friends?

Major League

• Team Work?
• Team New Jersey (or whatever state you live in)?
• Team America (or whatever nation you live in)?

Eco-League

• Team Humanity?
• Team Earth?

Most people join teams where they are not paralyzed by the threats that team is designed to face, and then they join in the promotion and defense of that team. But currently there is no healthy organization available for a person to join that makes it easier to feel part of humanity as a whole or part of the overall ecosystem. If we can define such an organization, then maybe we can energize its team members to begin caring and defending more than their own ego.

BTW, I don’t think it is possible for a person to become a contributor to the Major Leagues unless they have spent time perfecting their trade in the Minor Leagues. Similarly, I don’t think you can be a contributor to the Eco-League until you grow in the Major Leagues.