We.
It can be such a wonderful word when spoken with love or the spirit of togetherness. Not so much when it's spoken in the 'royal' sense - for example, when a doctor asks, "How are we feeling today?" Hmmm. But that's not my thrust in today's post.
We. It means more than one person including the one speaking. There is a shared purpose, a shared experience. Shared strength, perhaps.
"We" means belonging to a group - whether a marriage, a one-on-one friendship or a small OR large group of people with a common belief, problem, or interest.
Of course any time you have a group of people, you are going to get differing opinions, different sensitivities, different expectations brought to the table. That's a given. But "We" focuses on the primary purpose for which the people gather or associate with one another.
I belong to different groups of people; everyone does. Let's say I belong to a curling club and to a soccer-moms club. (I don't, by the way.) I might see the same people in each place, but the focus of the group changes and we don't spend our time at the curling club talking about strategies for car-pooling for the soccer-moms club. We stick to the main reason why we're there to support the goals of the group we're in. It's simple enough. Nothing complicated about that.
There's solidarity in "We." Relationships. Support. Hope. Strength. Not that we can't make it without each other, but that we can make it more EASILY with each other's presence to encourage, to cheer each other.
It's been said that there is no "I" in "We." While that might be true in a certain sense, I cannot say "We" without including "me". Otherwise I'd say "you!!" Right? So my very minor point here is that while group dynamics and group cohesiveness is important, it can only be as successful as the individuals that make up the group. The willingness of each individual participant to contribute, to work on him or herself (practicing music individually if one is in a band or orchestra, for example) will automatically enhance the quality of the time the group spends together.
This has all kinds of applications in every situation from ball teams to church. The group or the team is only as successful as the individual members make it in their own personal lives, and it takes the willingness of those members to contribute to the group BY CHOICE. Not because the individual members NEED the group but because they WANT to be together. That, I've found in my own life, is a way more healthy way to come together.
I'm not exactly sure why I wrote all that. Perhaps it's just something that was gelling in my own mind. At any rate, I'm just putting it out there. Who knows? it might be just what someone needs. Stranger things have happened... ;)
It can be such a wonderful word when spoken with love or the spirit of togetherness. Not so much when it's spoken in the 'royal' sense - for example, when a doctor asks, "How are we feeling today?" Hmmm. But that's not my thrust in today's post.
We. It means more than one person including the one speaking. There is a shared purpose, a shared experience. Shared strength, perhaps.
"We" means belonging to a group - whether a marriage, a one-on-one friendship or a small OR large group of people with a common belief, problem, or interest.
Of course any time you have a group of people, you are going to get differing opinions, different sensitivities, different expectations brought to the table. That's a given. But "We" focuses on the primary purpose for which the people gather or associate with one another.
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| Source (via Google Images): http://nacwr.blogspot.com/2011/07/closer-we-humans-live- by-mother-natures.html |
There's solidarity in "We." Relationships. Support. Hope. Strength. Not that we can't make it without each other, but that we can make it more EASILY with each other's presence to encourage, to cheer each other.
It's been said that there is no "I" in "We." While that might be true in a certain sense, I cannot say "We" without including "me". Otherwise I'd say "you!!" Right? So my very minor point here is that while group dynamics and group cohesiveness is important, it can only be as successful as the individuals that make up the group. The willingness of each individual participant to contribute, to work on him or herself (practicing music individually if one is in a band or orchestra, for example) will automatically enhance the quality of the time the group spends together.
This has all kinds of applications in every situation from ball teams to church. The group or the team is only as successful as the individual members make it in their own personal lives, and it takes the willingness of those members to contribute to the group BY CHOICE. Not because the individual members NEED the group but because they WANT to be together. That, I've found in my own life, is a way more healthy way to come together.
I'm not exactly sure why I wrote all that. Perhaps it's just something that was gelling in my own mind. At any rate, I'm just putting it out there. Who knows? it might be just what someone needs. Stranger things have happened... ;)
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