Us
Item No. 15
“We need to translate our interior into an exterior for others to view. And if we want to become us, chances are we need to combine our ideas somehow.As Merriam says, (the dictionary Merriam), ‘us’ is the objective case of we. It's you and me, or anyone being together. It's the absence of one person alone. It's the absence of anyone alone. The complete opposite of one solo individual, group, or a community.
Us is always both of us together.
It is the opposite of tribalism, exclusion, or us versus them.
To be honest, it's always a little difficult, isn’t it, to be us?
We show up on this planet alone, a mind or a soul in a body, depending on who you are and how you look at things. Either way, anytime we want to communicate with anyone else, we need to translate our interior into an exterior for others to view. And if we want to become us, chances are we need to combine our ideas somehow. This means that we complicate it to start with. That’s difficult, right? We have to work at that.
The ‘us’ we list in the catalog this season, by the way, is us against all odds! The us—that is us humans. Our species. Humanity. Our human family.
What we share in common after all is our humanity.
Us—every—one of us is human.
Us is in this season’s catalog as we seem always to be partitioning ourselves into groups, into camps and communities, nation states or other disparate us’s. We thrive on an innate competitive spirit that shines well in things like the Olympics, but less well when we are disputing over territories or resources or (religious) ideals (See catalog entry: pew). We think that the collective US is in danger, even though there are other ways to operate. Consider our opportunity to cooperate, for example. (Even if we have to work at that a little.)(See Nuance.) Frank White reminds us in The Overview Effect, his collection of interviews with astronauts, whose perspectives shift when they see earth from the position of the stars, how small we are and how small our planet is. He reminds us we are always ‘us’ as a species, no matter the boundaries or distances we see between us here.
Well, being us costs us our own ego. That is for sure.
Being us takes compromise. Understanding. A willingness to set aside some of our personal interests in order for the interests of the whole to take precedent. It costs us our own desire, perhaps, in some cases, in order for us to honor for the whole, in honor for more of us to thrive. We might not do it all ourselves, but rather invest in what each other does best. And let go of some of our shorter term interests, in honor of a goal that might serve to inspire more of us to activate our potential--to use our collective energy and skills.
The cost of a loss of us? A lot of grumpiness in the world. Loneliness, too. Missed opportunities. What are they? (We may never know, if we fail to become us.)
Other specifications:
To become us? A willingness to meet and discuss things. Second, a willingness to compromise a little (or a lot) depending. Third, a willingness for us to aspire to do great things together.