I and a friend recently had lunch with a mutual friend who had gone through an awkward and disheartening event at work. She felt betrayed, abandoned and totally alone. When she found out that not only was she not alone, but her experience is almost common in some environments, she laughed in relief. She had found her tribe.
From the earliest hunter-gatherer days to today’s technologically-but-sometimes-not-personally-connected society, we all need a place where we feel like we belong. It’s one of the greatest human needs we have, beyond the necessities required for sheer survival.