Need

So the Astros, the team of the moment here in Houston, failed in their attempt to make it to the World Series. One would think that everyone's dog died at the office today, considering all the long faces and incessant talk about "the game."

Sorry - I'm afraid I don't particularly care. There was a time I thought baseball was okay, but when those guys who spend their time standing in the middle of a grassy field for a couple of hours went on strike a few years ago because they weren't being paid enough millions to stand in the middle of that grassy field, I lost interest. I think they should have lowered all their pay for being such whiners.

But anyway, what came to me today was how people seemed to need this baseball team - it galvanized people so that they had something to stand behind and bond with fellow Houstonians. You could go anywhere and, if you didn't happen to come across me, you could say, "See the game last night?" and instantly strike up a friendship with someone. The antics of a bunch of spoiled rich kids brought a city together.

You can look all around you and see people joining any number of groups so that they can feel they belong. What other reason could there be for someone putting a "W in 04" or "Kerry" sticker on their car? They have no real stake in the election, and it is very unlikely they know the guys - so why should they feel they align with one or the other so violently that they have to tell everyone else about it? A need to belong.

Religion is another area where people go to belong. And there are any number of clubs out there that exist for the same reason.

Now, belonging, by itself, is certainly nothing horrible. It does appear to be some kind of drive. However, there is a dark side to belonging - the "you're not one of us" syndrome. If you don't belong to the group, then you are an outsider...Republicans hate Democrats...Astros fans hate Cardinals fans...any number of religions hate - or at least distrust - any number of other religions (regardless of their own religion's doctrines of love). So belonging, while bringing some people together, tends to be divisive to society in general.

However, I suppose one cannot avoid belonging...my choice not to belong puts me into a group of those who stand outside, and we tend to find those who are mindlessly borne along on the latest whim of belonging to be no better than sheep. And thus, I belong and I ridicule, making me no better than anyone else.

And that's when I realize we're all in this together, whether we like it or not; regardless of what groups we belong to.

Go team!