Critical Thinking Piece

Critical Thinking Piece, “Tribes and More” Community Discussion Board Two

When David Berreby said, "we want to live in tribes... (People) are looking to be told what group they belong to." I thought it was quite a true, yet controversial statement. Our society implies that we all want to belong because we are all part of so many different communities. It does not matter if we want to be part of a community or not. It is inevitable that we are in a community. Whether it be drinking the same coffee as a group of people, playing on a soccer team or working on a group project. These are all considered communities. Also, our society implies how we all want to be different and individual. We work so hard to be unique. We die our hair purple, wear jewelry, listen to so many different types of music and wear so many different styles of clothes that it is hard to believe that communities exist at all!

In Shari Caudron's essay, "Befriending Barbie" she speaks about a woman who joined the "Barbie Club". The woman’s' name is Judy and she is an example of someone who needs to belong to a community. After her son Justin was shot and killed in a church her Barbie friends reached out to her. Judy says, "I'm so blessed. This is the closest circle of friend I have ever had." Judy's is a touching story and it proves how helpful it can be to be a part of a community. It proves how necessary it was that Judy had that support group to help her through such a tough time. In my own experience I have sometimes found the opposite to be true. In middle school I belonged to the community of "popular girls". When I was going through a difficult time they were not there to help. In fact I became so involved in the community and trying to fit into it that my grades dropped and my identity changed for the worse. Sometimes communities can take to much focus off of the important things in life. Communities can also change your identity if you are not careful.

I absolutely loved Jon Stewart's, "Commencement Address". Jon is a great example of someone who does not need to belong. He did belong to a college community, but he sort of defied the community and branched out on his own. He did not need to belong, and instead he strived to be different. "I am honored to be here and to receive this honorary doctorate. When I think back to the people that have been in this position before me, I can't help but wonder what has happened to this place." says Jon Stewart in his speech. I think that this sentence says that in our society today, there is more acceptance of "being different". There is more of a need to be different. There is more pressure to break free from our communities and create our own individual identities. When we need to belong to a community it can sometimes hinder our identity. We are seen as the community and not as ourselves. In think we all want to belong, but really we are all just trying to find our identities.