Recently I asserted that in a world so dominated by libertarian impulses on both the left and right, there aren’t all that many widely known communitarian sayings. I mentioned “It takes a village to raise a child,” and “We’re all in this together.”
But that wasn’t a fully inclusive list. In fact, our society has other ways of giving at least lip service to notions that would raise us above purely selfish considerations. Here’s another sort-of communitarian saying with which we’re all familiar:
“There’s no ‘I’ in ‘TEAM.'”
But as much as I appreciate the sentiment, I did enjoy this sendup of the saying, which was shared on Facebook today by Diane Lore, a former reporter at The State.
And, yes — if there is an “I” in “TEAM,” that is exactly where I would expect to find it…
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Within every team, there is a pecking order. “We’re all in this together” normally means “We’re all in this to our varying capabilities”. The 80/20 rule is far more applicable than “There is no I in team”.
So the “i” in “team” is the “a” hole?
Brad – Love it, I’m gonna have to share the picture with my co-workers.
Ha. Ha.
Many hands make light work. Hmmm, not coming up with any others…
No man is an island unto himself.
What goes around, comes around
Of course, that one paragraph, or portion of a paragraph, by Donne is full of them:
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
I don’t think “What goes around, comes around” fits, though. That’s a fatalistic, determinist (if I’m using that word correctly, which I may not be) assertion that the world automatically balances things out. I see that as a very different concept.
I think it’s about karma, and how we are all connected, so if you act badly, it will eventually work it’s way back to you. As ye sow, so shall ye reap, sort of. Not in a mystical way, but just that when you are nice to people, on the average, they will be nice back to you and you will create a a positive world around you, and when you don’t….mirror neurons at work….
We all know people who are so defended, they create a hostile reality. Some even comment on this blog.
Is that Donne Osmond? No, wait: He spells it with a ‘Y”, as in ‘Y?’ Because we like you.
P.S. There’s no ‘Y’ in team, either.
Shikata ga nai