Thanks to @dailydoseofjess for flagging this to me.
It is a simple post by Navneet Alang about the rarity of collective experience in, what he calls, “these culturally fragmented times”, with the context of the ‘shared moment’ that ‘Vancouver’ had when the Canadian Men’s hockey team scored their winning goal in the Olympics. The video is beautifully calm, with a building excitement in sound as the climax of the game gets closer. I really like it.
Isn’t it strange though how a game can evoke so many feelings and emotions in both men and women? You share a collective passion with complete strangers around you, and it feels amazing. There are not many other things we share with others that can make us so happy or excited (or share being sad when it doesn’t go so well).
Coincidentally, I also found myself back at a live sporting event for the first time in months this weekend – I had a really good time. Even though it was actually a pretty boring Rugby game I had forgotten how if you share in a sporting experience, the normal barriers to socialising seem to come crashing down. Everyone is your friend and everyone is accepted with a shared purpose.
So, thank you Sport - you brought a smile to my face this weekend. You can make us ecstatically happy and you can simply get us talking to each other.
I am not sure I agree we have less moments of collective experience now. In fact – I actually think there are more opportunities with technology to share moments. But I agree, sometimes the good old fashioned hug with a random when your team scores really just can’t be beaten.
