So Much More Together

On Food Insecurity and the Power of Coming Together

In the 1950s, social psychologist Muzafer Sherif conducted an experiment at a summer camp in Robbers Cave State Park—an experiment that revealed just how easily division can take root among us.

Two groups of boys, unaware of each other at first, spent their days bonding over games and campfires, building their own small worlds of belonging.

But once they were introduced—once competition entered the picture—everything changed.

Tug-of-war. Baseball. Capture the flag.

Taunts turned to hostility. Cabins were vandalized. Meals were eaten separately.

And no amount of forced friendliness could bridge the growing divide.

Until the day the water line broke—an event staged by the researchers.

Faced with a problem too big for either group to solve alone, the boys had no choice but to work together.

And in that shared struggle, something deeper began to happen.

Suspicion gave way to cooperation.

Rivalry gave way to friendship.

Division gave way to unity.

All because they learned what can only be learned when we stop fighting for our side—and start working for the good of all.

This classic experiment beautifully illustrates what’s possible for us today.

We are so much more—together.

I opened an email this morning from my son’s middle school. It described a food drive to help combat food insecurity in our community. While this issue is always present in every community, there’s no question that more people have been affected recently with food benefits being cut.

This is our broken water line.

And it just might be an opportunity for us to come together and work for the common good.

The campers could have waited indefinitely for the caretakers to fix the problem and continued their fighting. But sometimes the urgency of a situation demands that we set aside our differences and work together.

We can wait for the government to feed the most vulnerable—or, while we wait for politics to resolve, we can come together to care for one another, to make sure no one goes to bed hungry.

Question

What can I do today to make sure my neighbors have food on their tables, and that the shelves of my local pantries are full?

Peace,

Brandon

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