STRONGER TOGETHER IS THE GOAL

The team is always stronger together, stronger than the separate parts.

If a superstar has a bad day on a good team, they still have a chance to win because the group can carry the load.

The same idea works in neighborhoods, communities, cities, and towns. They are all stronger together than they are apart. But, does the same theory of togetherness work on an individual basis?

First, the individual is never just one person, but that’s all we ever see.

Take someone drinking a cup of tea in the top photo. They must like tea, but there must be more to get them in front of the British Tea Tent.

Strangers all have their own backstory, people they know, people who know them. However, if we walk past someone on the sidewalk, we don’t know anything about their social system.

Individually we can change our story to strangers because there is no check or balance. We show who we are by our appearance, our choices of hats, shoes, and colors.

And a cup of tea.

Truth Still Matters

When someone tells you who they are, why not believe them? If they do something that shows who they are, believe them.

A big fat liar asking us to believe them is stretching more than truth. They are stretching our system of beliefs to include them.

A nice lady in her seventies was cheerfully snipping flowers in her yard when a passer-by stopped to chat.

Them: Such a beautiful yard.

Lady: I’d offer a flower for you to smell, but you’re wearing a mask.

Them: Don’t you wear a mask when you’re out.

Lady: Never. I believe in herd immunity.

Them: But you wear a mask when you go into a store?

Lady: I don’t. I’ve had cancer twice, so I’m not worried.

Them: (stepping back) But the idea is to protect others by wearing a mask.

Lady: Other people’s problems are not my problems.

The lady had a misguided sense of togetherness, and she wasn’t strong, but those believes she held onto were all that mattered.

An old saying rings true: Science is still true whether you believe it or not.

Stronger Together In Love

Active people meets lots of others, hermits not so much. For them life is a mixer. They travel, meet fast friends, stay in touch, check in.

They are stronger together with their people all around. It’s a happier world just being around them.

I discovered this in someone new to my neighborhood, a pretty woman in a blue dress. I was talking to a guy and watched her step in and out of dabbled sunlight, until she was close enough to kiss the guy I was talking to.

He introduced his girlfriend and I saw the sort of sparkle I never expected. Ask any old married couple how they knew they were right for each other and they usually say, “We just knew.”

This woman had a knowing look, and the guy she was with was the luckiest man in the world.

After they broke up, I was the luckiest man in the world. Then we got married and I was the luckiest married man in the world. She brought the whole battle wagon to the relationship for protection. Not protection from me, but protection for both of us against the sort of problems that end marriages.

One of the best tools of the trade is being able to listen. So be a good listener. Sounds easy?