When we are young, we are forced to join groups, according to the beliefs of the adults in our lives. But as we grow older, we look for groups that share our interests and viewpoints. Our interactions with others can be very enlightening. They can help us figure out the particularities of our own thinking, and how we are different from the rest of the group.
“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”
-Henry Ford
Even an extraordinary individual needs to work with others to achieve progress. Working as part of a group can have a myriad of benefits! It could help us discover skills we didn’t know we possess. It could allow us to make contributions towards a common goal. It could provide opportunity for us to accomplish achievements and experience success. It could offer us the reward of feeling accepted and included. It could give us communality and a sense of belonging. A group can help us feel less alone in this world.
We make great efforts to thrive because we dream of happiness. Our minds want to be challenged, excited, and respected. Our hearts want to feel love, joy, and peace. Our bodies want to experience pleasure, exertion, and abundance. We long to be delighted and thrilled!
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart”
-Psalm 37:4
We exist, but that is not enough. We survive, but that is not rewarding. We want to flourish. We seek for the power and strength to overcome the hardships of this world. We want goodness and justice. Although we are very unique — with different ideas of what is good and true — we all experience the same needs and desires. We strive to become a better version of ourselves. We hope to leave this world better than we found it. We endeavor to protect our way of life and our right to pursuit happiness, for ourselves and for our posterity.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
-Thomas Jefferson, The United States Declaration of Independence
