On Competition

Football season has begun and there is nothing like a popular sporting event that brings out nationalism in people. In Europe it's soccer (a much better sport in my opinion). When I lived there I experienced for myself the fact that the countries were small so anything that could highlight a sense of nationalism was important and upheld. I get that people identify themselves with place and thus something that represents their place is a source of pride. The same phenomenon occurs here with football and even among states. Ever notice how the state south of wherever you live is the butt of so many jokes? For Iowa it's Missouri, for Minnesota it's Iowa, and so on. There's always a need to separate from the larger society, to create an "us vs them" mentality. Though we seek community, though we are social creatures, the lines of community we draw are rather small aren't they. It makes competition a vital thing--why else would we shrink the world so, why else would we make so many distinctions? Are we so afraid of being unknown, of feeling like a speck on the planet that we form and belong to smaller groups and focus our minds on the differences of our groups? And it's been going on since the beginning hasn't it--why else is history laden with wars and conflict? I wonder what would happen if people broadened their view of community to include the world. I wonder if it's even possible.