I was tooling around the house the other day, taking a moment to enjoy a cup of chai, when I flipped on the Telly (as the Brits might say), and found "Dances With Wolves." I wasn't looking for a 3-hour epic, multiple-Oscar winner to kill time with, but, well, there you have it. Big chunk of my day ... gone.
It got me thinking a lot about the idea of tribes. "Tribe" has become the new buzzword, signifying a person's sense of belonging to something. In the movie, John Dunbar, while running away from the slaughter of war, found his tribe in the Sioux nation. They welcomed him in, gave him community and purpose.
In the education game, we talk a lot about helping kids find their "tribe." And, as easy, or even romantic, as that idea is to throw around, it is actually a much more complicated idea than a lot of people consider.
When Columbine happened, we spent a lot of time talking about students and "social disconnect." The idea was that students did not have to be popular to feel safe at school --; they just had to have a few friends who they trust and could provide them with a shell of social belonging. A "tribe," as it were. And so, we spend a lot of time thinking about different ways to connect students to other students, to help shape and mold their social experiences in a way that they can feel connected. This is part of why middle schools are organized into teams these days, and why faculty advisors are a normal part of the secondary school experience.
It's a grand idea, but, parents, let me caution you against casual joy at your child finding a "tribe"--;not every tribe is good. First of all, predators instinctively know who is outside of the tribe, and create their own. They prey on young people --; especially, but not exclusively, girls --; and show interest in them. They make them feel a sense of worth that no tribe has asserted yet, and then they isolate them from the structures of their life --; family, church, old friends. The clever ones even do it in a way that makes it seem like every bad idea comes from the prey. And then they hook them in to their solo tribe.
In the 1920s, when the wave of Italian immigrants had started to settle into the fabric of American life, there was one powerful tribe that formed to give young men, in particular, a place to belong --; it was the mafia. Organized crime might be the greatest tribal movement in America in the 20th century, going from Hoffa to MS-13 to Chinese Triads to the Crips and the Bloods. Gone to another level, these become the Jim Joneses, or Charles Mansons, or the Branch Davidians. Or, for that matter, ISIS. But they're a tribe!
Even American politics is starting to fracture along tribal lines. Ben Shapiro wrote a piece in National Review a couple weeks ago arguing that Donald Trump is not, in any way, a rejection of the type of politics that Barack Obama has practiced for the last ten years. They both identify areas of contention, and then leverage those; they both embrace the power of government to accomplish things for their "tribe;" and neither of them seem to have any interest in dealing with members of the other tribe --; it's all or nothing politics. Trump isn't a refutation of eight years of Obama --; he's the strong man champion of those who feel aggrieved by the tribe of Obama.
Luckily, there are still some wonderful tribes out there --; the Marines, for instance. Belonging to one of those can still be a launching pad to accomplishment in life. Just don't be complacent and assume that every tribe is like that. The fact that the Marines exist is testament to the presence of bad tribes, too.
from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.comhttp://arvadapress.com/stories/Consider-this-bit-of-tribal-counsel,222580?branding=15
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