The Need to Belong
Humankind is primarily of the pack or herd instinct. There is no human need larger than that of belonging and it crosses all economic, educational, religious, scientific and philosophical boundaries.
If we are
Rich, we seek the membership of a more exclusive country club
Poor, we fill the need with the camaraderie of the streets
Young, we desperately cling to peers
Old, the coffeeshop suffices
and so it goes, this need to associate, to find regard among those like us. We give lip-service to independence and individuality, all the while hungering for the approval of association.
It can’t be legislated around, cured by war, argued, gotten away from or denied. Peer approval runs the world, mostly for the better and persistently, if marginally, for the worse. We accept with anything from roaring approval to embarrassed acceptance, all those clubs and fraternal organizations that include everything from the Queen’s List of Honors to the Rotary, Kights of Columbus, Boosters and various Chambe…