OCCUPIED

So I walked around Boston today getting some footage for a video project I am working on.  Part of my afternoon was spent walking along the Greenway which curves around the length of where the rt93 tunnel. I saw a large group at the end of the greenway, I decided to check it out. Turns out it was forty or fifty tents and a couple hundred people all part of Occupy Boston. The Occupy America movement is a fascinating sociological event with a branch in our backyard. People (mostly students) staying in tents, with signs for various political, socioeconomic and other issues, and regardless of Republican or Democrat everyone seemed to be getting along. I took in a group meeting to discuss the greatness of Marxist philosophy, there was a veterans for peace tent, I saw a tent where clothing was being given away, they even have a library. Folk music was being played for everyone's enjoyment and it was actually pretty good.

As I walked through the encampment I got the sense that this was a place for the free exchange of ideas and life philosophy (well, I did not see any representatives from corporate America there). I am pretty sure that there was even a small group freely sharing some ganja; they seemed really happy.

This gathering of people in Dewey Square and the hundreds of people who show up for the scheduled General Assemblies tells me a few things about people in general and Boston in particular. First, there is an undercurrent in Boston (and probably every city in America for that matter) of discontentment with "the system". The system is the conglomeration of impersonal regulations, guidelines, parameters, etc. that seem to be arbitrarily superimposed on society and dictate how a person should live their life and spend their money if they are going to be successful. Discontentment has spurred Americans on to technological innovation for generations, it has spurred community organizers on to bring change to their neighborhoods, it has even spurred corporate executives to make shady deals behind closed doors. People from all walks of life experience some degree of discontentment. We all wrestle with a lack of contentment at some point. Discontentment must simmer for a while before it motivates us to try and bring change to something. What is your simmering discontentment?

The second is that people are desperate to be heard, young and old. Everyone has an opinion, but a cause like "Occupy America" gives people a chance to put a megaphone to their ideals and opinions and be heard much more so than if they stood alone. The need to be heard is what many people from North African nations are fighting for right now. When you are heard you are validated; your station in life has legitimacy. All people long for validation, they long to be heard. People want to be heard. Who listens to you??

Third, I discovered that not everyone there was there for the stated purposes of the movement. Some where there because their friends were there and they wanted to support their friends. Some were there because it is where the attention is and they simply want to be a part; they want to belong. Everyone wants to be part of something big, a cause to fight for. It gives us a sense of identity. In some places in the world the cause is your family; you stand for your family and they give you identity. Here in America it is often your ideals. Your ideals give you something to fight for and give you an identity. When you don't have either of these you long for them, you look for them in anything. Many a high school student and college student has gone through this "looking to belong" stage. From what do you derive your sense of identity??? Is it enough? Are you fulfilled?

In some ways these are the longings of every person who has ever drawn breath on planet earth; they make us human. Being discontent, the desire to be heard, and our sense of identity will shape us and define us. We will be healthy people depending on what our source is for these three aspects of our soul. You may be looking for money, or love. You may be motivated by greed or loneliness. The longings of your soul says something about who you are. How you fulfill those longings says something about who you are willing to be and who you are becoming.

Just a Meandering Thought...

CROWD

Do you remember when you were in elementary school or maybe even junior high (or perhaps last week), when there was one kid or maybe a group of kids that would get some kind of cool gadget and soon everyone had it or at least wanted it. Yeah, they call that crowd mentality. Crowds draw crowds.

Most of us, perhaps even all of us, are part of some kind of crowd, Seth Godin would call it your "tribe". Your tribe gives you a sense of an identity, it shapes your worldview. One man alone does not a crowd (or tribe) make. But when many people gather around one man, or one idea, or one worldview, or (insert point of self identity), then for better or worse you have a tribe.

Some will fight viciously to preserve their tribe because this is what gives them a sense of identity and purpose. In places in the world where your tribe is your family, it is not uncommon to see bloody feuds continue for decades. In America it is not quite this bad, usually; but our crowd is still very important to us. This video has been circulating around the internet for a while but it helps make my point. If you have not see it yet, you have to watch to the end.

When you consider the crowd that you are a part of, do you think about what people outside of the crowd think of your crowd? What do you do to attract outsiders?

It has been said that the Church is one of the few institutions that exists for those who are not a part of it. Even though this is true, the reality is that the Church has not always acted this way.

When Jesus walked the earth there were throngs of people who followed him, to the point where a few times he had to sneak away in order to have some peace and quiet. Do you know of any place where people thronged to church?

The funny thing is, tribes are being formed everyday, and crowds are thronging to them.

Some observations on Crowds based on the above video:

1. The crowd you belong to determines the person you are becoming.
2. People follow passion.
3. One passionate individual can draw a crowd but that does not mean he knows what he is doing.
4. No one wants be a part of a crowd that is not excited about what they are doing.
5. One passionate person who thinks he is drawing a crowd, but is standing alone is just an idiot on the side of a hill.
6. When one idiot on the side of a hill is surrounded by people, he is suddenly cool.
7. Always have a video camera with you
8. It is easier to act out when you are surrounded by people who are acting out.
9. If this guy can draw a crowd why can't you?
10. In the moments before they thronged the lone dancer, what do you think was going through the mind of those people who sat and watched him.

What is keeping you from doing something so unique that people might stare at you for a while... before joining you?


Just a Meandering Thought...