It's a Jeep Thing
I don't Understand..."Cultrual Tribalism"
I’m driving down the road and I do a double take. “Did I know that person?” Several days later, same thing. In all my life, I’d never been so popular as when I started driving a Jeep. The “Jeep wave” is a thing, and I didn’t know it was a thing until we bought a Jeep to tow behind our RV.
The Jeep culture goes waaay beyond the wave. People in the Jeep world customize and upgrade their jeeps. They have Jeep outings both on and off roads. They even “duck” Jeeps (which happened to us for the first time while living in NH).
Here’s a little secret we’ll tell you about the Geissinger family. We’re actually not Jeep people. We just have a Jeep because it is rated as the easiest to tow behind an RV. Even though we don’t share that same Jeep passion as most, it’s nice to be in the club.
We all need to belong somewhere. Physically, emotionally, and mentally, we need to be in some place where we find comfort and familiarity.
While working with someone suffering from chronic pain in Arizona, my co-workers warned me before our first meeting that she was a little “over the top.” During her initial evaluation, she told me she felt the need to get out of her own skin. While complete skin resection is entirely out of my skillset or practice act as a physical therapist, I decided to continue to hear her out and try to find a way to help.
After hearing her history, I found out she had a strong desire to quilt. Patterns, threads and fabrics in a variety of designs lit up her heart more than all the candles on Grandma’s 99th birthday cake.
In that, I saw an opportunity and started to talk about myself. “I’m from Lancaster, PA home of an annual Quilt convention.” Like a naked swimmer jumping out of a polar plunge, she stood bolt upright screaming “You’re from Lancaster?!?! I love that convention.” Quilting and even thoughts of quilting past seemed to completely mitigate all pain, even if only for a moment. Suddenly, I was in “her club”. I was able to provide a vessel to transcend time and space to somewhere void of pain…in her mind.
When I started writing this, Shohei Ohtani just set a record signing deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 10 years, $700 million. For those of you who are not baseball fans, Shohei Ohtani is an amazing athlete who last year, in one day pitched a complete game shut out AND went on to hit 2 home runs. He… is a unicorn. Not since Babe Ruth has a professional baseball player dominated as both a batter and pitcher. He is also from Japan and has a following like no one ever from that nation. Part of his new deal provides coverage of all Dodger games in Japan. Almost as if he will be playing for the Los Angeles/Japan Dodgers. He’s “their guy”.
On June 15th, 1970, a high school stand-out runner from Coos Bay, Oregon made it to the cover of Sports Illustrated running for the University of Oregon as “America’s Distance Prodigy.” Steve Prefontaine went on to become arguably the greatest American Distance runner ever as well as a founding face of Nike before being tragically killed in a car accident at a young age. Many in Oregon, and beyond recognize him as “our guy.”
Whether an athlete or not, Steve Prefontaine, especially in Oregon, is a figurehead that unites a community. To this day, his influence is all around Eugene Oregon from Pre’s trail to the site of his tragic car accident, to the murals around town and even the annual track meet with his namesake at the University of Oregon.
Outside of a small-town diner on the gulf coast of Texas, an older man gets into his pickup truck swapping his baseball cap for his classic Stetson Cowboy hat and only at that moment do you realize, it’s “King George.” Texas is a king-sized state but George Strait is one of a handful of people in the state who carry a near 100% approval rating. Look no further than a current Texas teen’s playlist to find Taylor Swift, Drake, and George Strait as proof to his cross-generational fame in Texas.
People, hobbies, professions, and even hardships help to provide a sense of belonging…even when people don’t belong.
Within our first hours of arriving in Tucson, Arizona last October, we pulled into an Arizona grocery store parking lot, clearly the “outsiders”. We stuck out is an understatement in this parking lot, with our Pennsylvania license plates and all of our belongings in tow or tied to our RV.
We did not want to go inside the store at this moment and miss all the action about to take place. Though late into the evening in our hometown it was still early in the day on the West. “Our guy” from “our team” in “our town” on “our coast” in “our time zone” was up to bat. We were experiencing a sense of home and belonging that transcends time, space and location. No one else for miles cared about what was happening but to our family, sitting in our RV, major history was in the works. Bryce Harper was up to bat and he could send the Philadelphia Phillies, “our” Phillies to the World Series.
Belonging extends far beyond people and places, it also applies to clothing. While living and working in Arizona, we noticed a fair amount of “Western Wear”. This year our office here in Lancaster dressed up for Halloween. I wore my best “cowboy” outfit but joked that If I was in Arizona or Texas I would refer to it as my Tuesday (or any other day for that matter) outfit.
Beyond styles, even brands appear to be regional including a brand that many in the East never heard of, Hooey. Throughout the Southwest, we noticed a lot of Hooey hats and clothing. One day, I asked a patient what is “Hooey” and he was quite honest and said, “you know, I don’t know…but I really like the hat.” Before leaving Tucson, he gave me a Hooey hat as a parting gift.
When we left Arizona, we stopped at a Costco in El Paso. I entered that store wearing my newly gifted Hooey hat. As we entered, Three seemingly Texans exited wearing Hooey hats. Immediately, I felt like I was “in the club”. Not only was I transcending state lines with my Costco membership card, but I was also in the Hooey club. No one could tell that I was a foreigner from the distant, forgotten state of Pennsylvania but I was the dad going to Costco with my Hooey hat. I belonged.
No matter who we are, where we are or what we are doing, we are all looking to belong. We’re always gravitating towards what we have in common, what feels safe. We want to be a part of a “tribe” to some degree no matter where life takes us. We want to belong.
Beyond belonging, most of us want to contribute. At a basic level, we want to cheer on our teammates, our family, our coworkers, and our friends. We want our team, our “tribe” to succeed and win and we want to be a part of that success.
On a higher level, we want to positively influence the outcome. We want our kids to excel after we lovingly (sometimes) get them out of bed, pack their lunch, and send them off to school. We encourage our co-workers because we want unity and success.
In what areas do you feel like you belong or where do you tend to look for a sense of belonging? Maybe you have a superpower and you feel as if you belong in every setting you enter. I’d encourage you to keep that superpower and bring someone else into that sense of belonging. You’d be surprised at just how many people there are out in the world feeling alone and need to belong.
Like my example at the beginning… be it a quilt convention memory or a Jeep wave, you can make someone transcend time and space to provide comfort in belonging.
Love to read your blog. Have had really COLD weather, waiting for a warmup. Hello to all🤗