June 23, 2010
Following on the last post
about how loud the crowd gathering was at Leadership Florida and how the volume
of a gathering crowd is an indicator of bondedness, it struck me that reunions
in general are proof of a community bond.
In general.
To begin, they require the
gathering of people who shared a meaningful event in the past. Everyone who
attends understands that event is the reason for gathering. So everyone comes
to the event having already thought about it. That means they are loaded with
stories ready to tell and they have an expectation to hear the stories of
others. What an inviting context for gathering.
Yet there can be both
motivation and fear. Take high school reunions for example. Not all of the past
experience memories may be good ones. We can go to a reunion with a fear of
being identified for our less glorious moments or fearful that our present does
not live up to our past.
But ask yourself… has the
mere consideration of the concept of reunions opened some new doors for you in
how to encourage community? Think of all the anniversaries we could utilize as
an excuse to reunite.
As I type, last night was a
pretty good storm here. The neighbor across the street lost a fairly big tree.
I was reminded that five years ago we lost a massive oak that was on the
property line between us and the neighbor. The tree fell literally right down
the property line. Had it fallen on either house it may have been a total loss. Anyway, here is an excuse to reunite: “Join
us for the fifth anniversary of our fallen tree. Bring your storm stories.”
Alright, that’s lame – but
useable. It’s a starting point. We will only get better from here if we think
of the power of being reunited. For motivation, imagine the gathering once it
happens. We ought to create some kind of noise meter to measure the power of
social gathering. The louder it is, the more people are talking, the more they
have to share, and the more they are invested in being there.
Do you have a great reunion
story that illustrates this? If so, please post it in “comments.” Better yet,
if you think something up AND DO IT because of this, please share it to
encourage others to do the same.
Oh... just for fun. Vicki saw this and sent it to me. Gave me a smile, so I thought I'd pass it along...
