Something became glaringly clear to me in the wake of both Hurricane Irene and the earthquake earlier this week down in Virginia- both of which were felt all along the east coast. 

People have an intense desire to share. 

It was hard to ignore the overwhelming commentary on these natural disasters as I scrolled down my Twitter stream and Facebook feed. The comments ranged from illuminating to daft to laugh-out-loud funny. But it wasn’t the individual comments that ultimately stood out to me- it was the sense of collective culture and shared experience among them. 

If you think about it, that’s why social networks like Twitter and Facebook have become so wildly successful to begin with- they provide a medium through which we can share with our chosen tribe of followers and friends. In the process of sharing, receiving feedback on what we share and responding to what others share with us, we develop something that is directly tied to our level of happiness: our sense of belongingness. 



It doesn’t even always matter what we say. We just want to say something- anything- that keeps us in the conversation. We find our own unique ways to be relevant and expressive. Through humor, metaphors, quotes, random thoughts, photographs and links, we share. 

I’ve heard a lot of people say that we share so much because we are self-absorbed. But I think in many cases, almost the exact opposite is true. We share because we have an intense desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We share because we want to mean something to people other than ourselves. 

This intense desire- this need- to belong is why we all had to comment on Irene. Irene was a shared experience; and in commenting on that shared experience, we solidified our belonging to it- as well our belonging to the group of people who experienced it with us. 

Whether in person, over Skype or on a Facebook feed, when we look at what people share through a “belongingness” lens, things start to look very different. Instead of automatically creating divisiveness and distance between others and ourselves, we begin to see an overarching commonality: the desire to belong- to one another, to the world. 

It is beautiful to see that commonality affirmed with every link, picture, post and tweet. It is beautiful to see that thread of sameness- to recognize that we are all part of something much bigger than our individual selves. 

It is our undeniable and inescapable belongingness to one another that makes me confident in the beauty and goodness of the future we share. Because when we feel and know we belong, together we can brave even the strongest earthquakes and hurricanes.