Silos

Dale McGowan's blog is really speaking to me lately. He specifically writes about non-religious parenting but his advice just makes sense for everyone if you ask me (did you ask me?).

He's talking this week on silos. His idea is that sometimes we wall ourselves into little silos where everyone thinks the same and it's "safe".

Most of us are surrounded by friends who think like us, who reinforce our choices and our sense of self, who nod and smile and laugh with us, who put us at ease. Most of us read magazines and watch news channels and listen to talk radio that reinforces our worldview rather than challenging it.

. . .

As a result, we’re dividing ourselves up into smug, self-satisfied silos, each with everything it needs, including pundits devoted to telling us how very smart we are to be in the silo we’ve chosen.

Hot dang. He's describing how I used to be when my oldest was little, that's for sure.

To be clear, he's not talking about never getting together with like minded folk. It's more about making sure that's not the *only* thing you do.

I'm an unschooler, no secret about that. And I admit, I often have nothing to say when we're in the company of more strict schoolers, talking about work requirements and such. But at the same time, over the years, I'm finding myself more and more uncomfortable around unschoolers who talk derisively about people who don't unschool, or who won't associate with them. Dale McGowan put a name to the thing I've been uncomfortable with. I don't want to be in a silo.

The more a group shuts off contact with unlike minds, the sloppier it gets. A little less care and thought goes into each statement. You know the room is with you, so you just say it. They’ll laugh at the cheap joke about the other group, they’ll nod at less and less grounded generalizations. Eventually we’re all a self-satisfied mutual admiration society with no remaining ability to communicate outside of our silo.

Guilty as charged! Yes, sometimes it's fun (or even just mentally and emotionally necessary for your sanity) to spend time with like minded folk and be able to take the cheap shots and laugh about "those people who . . . ". But if it's all you ever do . . . it's not good.

Just more to think on. And maybe it would be a good thing to be more (politely) outspoken about the things I think instead of just nodding and smiling and going along with the crowd?