Social Cohesion

Posted by Helena Smole in Improved self-image on Jun 24th, 2013

A friend told me the other day that his kid had her eardrum removed. Until the girl gets an artificial one implanted, the parents have to give her ear plugs, every time they go swimming. The artificial eardrum is going to make their life easier, but the kid will never be able to dive. I commented, with as much compassion as I could bring together, a sentence that eventually led me to write this blog: »We all have our limitations.«

Thinking about our limitations I came to an interesting conclusion: Different limitations eventually lead to more social cohesion.

Take the four basic temperaments for instance:
– The choleric, who has explosive anger management issues, but at the same time makes the best boss.
– The melancholic, whom you have to check once in a while just in case he/she is not planning a suicide, but makes a perfect scientist and inventor.
– The phlegmatic, who appears lazy, if not given enough guidance and support, but makes a perfect friend, always ready to listen to your problems.
– The sanguine temperament, who finds it tough to finish a project, but always knows how to cheer up a crowd.

Needless to add that a good working team preferably entails all four temperaments.

And where does social cohesion kick in? If any of the four people mentioned above had no flaws, he/she could make it without the other three. Thus this person could become arrogant. If all four people were without flaws, they could all become arrogant individualists and the team would fall apart. So would a family or any other social group. Let’s face it: what does really make you stay on a rainy day? The fact that you cannot do without your relatives, friend, co-workers, doesn’t it?

Take care,
Helena Smole, author of Balancing the Beast, a book offering a bright view of schizoaffective disorder ˗ bipolar or manic-depressive type