The Importance of "Belonging" And Why 300 People Show Up for a P&G Alumni Reunion

We read about—and most of us have experienced—a decline of trust in our institutions, whether that be government, religion, the media or business.

We shake our heads, perceiving people to be too often governed by self interest and failing to act in accord with principles we hold dear.

This can lead us to feel we are on our own.

Yet, we will never lose the  the desire to feel joined with groups or and organization which we believe share the principles we believe in. We will never lose the human instinct to "belong" to something outside ourselves.

This will of course start with our family. It is never to be taken for granted. Supporting one another. Loving one another.

But most of us will want more than that. We will want to be  part of a group or organization which reinforces values in which we believe: values of excellence; of integrity, of mutual respect. This is what makes participation on a winning sports team or top notch glee club a source of personal pride and validation years after the experience.

 And this is what makes a company like P&G so important. For to the extent to which its ambitions, accomplishments and actions, and  the values that underpin them, mirror our own values we will have that sense of "belonging" for which we as human beings yearn. And that feeling of "belonging" becomes more important than ever in the fluid, skeptical world in which we live.

This is what importantly explains why 300 people traveled from around the world to attend a P&G Alumni reunion in Madrid, Spain earlier this month. No matter how short their tenure with P&G  had been or how long it had been since their retirement, there were still those values and and experiences which they shared and which they took joy and satisfaction in being nurtured and reminded of  by being together again.

Beyond the Pale—President Trump and Ambassador Yovanovitch

As we all know, and I have written before, President Trump has said and  done countless shabby things which would have gotten him fired from any organization worthy of a modicum of our respect.

But for me, yesterday hit another new low mark.

Even while Ambassador Yovanovitch—a woman who had served our Nation for over 30 years in hard ship, dangerous posts around the world—was testifying to  the best of her ability, the President tweets to his 60 million+ followers, "Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.."

Legally speaking, this was probably not the Trump statement about the Ambassador which will most fit the definition of "witness intimidation". His vague but threatening remark about the Ambassador in his phone call with President Zelensky fits it more clearly,

But for revealing the sheer meanness and inhumanity of Trump's character and his utter disregard for truth, this for me sets another high watermark.

We are so much better than this as a nation. We cannot stand another 4+ years of this appalling demonstration of lack of character and observance of common decency.