Collective Sole

I often think about the individual vs. the collective. Individual freedom is the driving force and promise of America. The shrinking world seems to now be divided less into countries and more into groups and chats and various corners of the internet. 

Gone are the days when a person was forced to act for the good of their family, their village, their place of worship, rather than in their own best interest. All humans have always had best interests, but we have not always been empowered to use them. But now we have nothing but that power. And that power is driven by the false promise that we can each be more interesting than other people. Hence Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik-Tok, and so on. These media conglomerates even use the narrative that they're bringing people together to earn profit which just further stokes the fires of fierce individualism. 

I became an Arsenal fan in 2008 more or less (though I was exposed in 2007 at a time when it was part of my identity to hate soccer). I began liking Arsenal because one of my college roommates loved them so much. He would be up with a bowl of cereal at 7:00am on a Saturday watching a match on the old first generation big screen TV we bought for a couple hundred bucks from some guy in the Spokane Valley. It was an awful TV. Point is, slowly but surely, I would join my roommate until something clicked. 

I also loved Arsenal now. Not like him. Not yet. But I loved watching games with him and talking about the players, Arsene Wenger, the history of the club, and mostly all of the exciting prospects ahead (which haven't really panned out in my decade-plus as a fan). I did not watch Arsenal because it was cool to do; I watched because I wanted to hang out with my roommate. And now in 2021, 9 time zones separate us, but Arsenal keep us together. 

And now I'm part of a collective. I'm an Arsenal fan alongside thousands and thousands, perhaps millions, of others who love the club and want it to be successful. It's a silly thing, really. There are so many better causes to get behind. What if we had the kind of energy for a women's empowerment non-profit serving sub-Saharan Africa? And yet, there's beauty in that, for the most part, being an Arsenal fan has nothing to do with getting likes. We don't stand on our separate platforms with an Arsenal kit on and say "look at me and how much Arsenal is a part of my identity." That's not the point. We put on our kits and walk toward the crowd of people in red and white so we can laugh and drink and cry and suffer together. 

I want people to want other people. Can we get over this phase of desperate individualism and just enjoy loving things alongside others who also love them? 

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