Geeking Out and Finding Your Tribe

Human beings have always lived in tribes.  Tribes have changed since the days when people who were related by either blood, geography, or both lived together for protection, but we still have them because God designed us to live in community with each other.  Now, thanks to the internet in general and social media in particular, our tribes can be spread out all around the globe, consisting of people who share our interests, hobbies, political philosophy, or religious affiliation.  While I think it is important to sometimes venture outside the tribe for the purpose of learning from others, I also believe it is good to have these groups as a way of knowing that we are not alone in our love of whatever "weird" thing we love.

Twice per year, I get to see this demonstrated on a very large scale.  My school has a Latin club, and because I am friends with the Latin teacher, I help to chaperone two trips to the North Carolina Junior Classical League.  These are events in which people who appreciate the study of ancient Rome and ancient Greece gather to enjoy each other, compete in athletic and artistic expressions of these cultures, volunteer to take tests (on history, grammar, and mythology), compete in a quiz bowl style competition called Certamen, and listen to lectures from college professors about topics related to the ancient world (everything from the Olympic games to blood sacrifices to papyrus).

While all of that is astounding enough on its own, the most interesting part of these events is a competition they called "Spirit."  Each group has created a song or chant or dance (or all three).  Often, the chants are in Latin or themed to something related to the classics.  It is very exciting, very loud, and it goes on for about ten minutes.  I have a difficult time relaying it to be people who haven't experienced it, so here is a small sampling of this weekend's spirit competition.

I know you cannot see the facial expression of the man standing against the front wall with his arms crossed, but he is grinning from ear to ear.  He is a professor of Classics at UNC Chapel Hill.  In fact, he was the person who presented the seminar on animal sacrifice.  When he got up to speak, he said, "Anyone who calls Latin a dead language wasn't in this room a few minutes ago."  He was thrilled to see young people geeking out about Latin.  He knows that it bodes well for the future of classics education.  He was looking at the future of his tribe. 

In the same way that tribes of old lived and traveled together for physical protection, the modern tribe looks to each other for social protection.  This is especially important for students.  It doesn't matter how offbeat your quirky interest is if there are a few other people that share it.  I've seen kids band together over the love of a television show or video game, speaking a language to each other that no one else would understand.  I've watched friendships develop the moment one kid realizes that someone else read and enjoyed the same book they thought no one else liked.  As the great CS Lewis said in his amazing work The Four Loves, "Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another 'What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .'"   

In the age of cyber-bullying, these online tribes provide a safer place where people who have the same interest protect each other from the belief that no one else likes the thing I like.  It helps to prevent isolation and insecurity because there are others who understand.  Whatever your thing is, I promise there is a tribe for you if you look around just a little.  If you don't believe me, try typing a random combination of interests into Google.  I just did it with the words "star trek knitting club," because it was the strangest combination I could think of.  Not only were there over 7 million returns, I found some amazing work from Star Trek knitting enthusiasts.  I'm going to leave you with their work.  Enjoy.