Thanks to all three of you for this thought provoking series of ideas. (Don't you sleep?) It made me think about raising my five children in Colombia. They were very competitive! It's called sibling rivalry. Did we the parents create that? Or the natural desire to have the parent's attention? Or could it be an animal instinct? I've seen it in litters of puppies and pigs.
Was it/is it cultural? When I read about the African story and Ubuntu I thought that US culture is inherently competitive but then so is Colombian and Hispanic.
So there is a lot to think about here and what is as important or more, how can we stop this and simply join hands. Thanks for so much to think about.
Namaste! Penny
On Tue, Jul 31, 2012 at 1:12 AM, Richard G. Powell <richardgpowell@gmail.com> wrote:
So beautiful Jim, thank you for sharing! I knew there was a reason why I use Ubuntu instead of windoze ;-)
Reminds me deeply of a group I do at work that I always find fascinating. The group is simple: make a line on the floor creating two sides of the room. The chairs line the group room and you belong to whichever side you happen to be on. One person comes up from each side with the simple description, "The goal is to get the other person to come over to your side". (No touching is allowed) Immediately bribery and manipulation ensue! You should come over here because of x, y and z, or our side is better, etc. Sometimes it takes up to 30 or 40 minutes until someone realizes that the goal is for both people to step across simultaneously so that both sides win... Its amazing how deeply ingrained our competition mentality is yet how profound it hits people when they realize how much easier everything could be if we always considered "how can we all win?" Sometimes in the group they find the solution immediately and then spend the next 20 minutes debating whether or not they can trust the other person to step across as well. So simple yet so revealing...www.richardglenpowell.com
On 07/30/2012 09:32 PM, jim belcher wrote:
To me this is why I participate in PBJ:
"An anthropologist suggested the following game to a group of children in a tribe in Africa: He placed a basket full of fresh fruits under a tree. He then said that whoever reached the basket first in a race would be the winner of all the fruits.
As he gave the signal to begin the race, the whole group held hands, ran bonded together and then sat and enjoyed the prize together.
When he asked why they had done such thing, when he had offered the possibility to one to be the ultimate winner.
They replied: " UBUNTU"-- how could one of us be happy (feel happiness) while the rest are in despair, unhappy?
UBUNTU in the Xhosa culture means: "I am, because we are."
This is the possibility I see.
jim
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