rambling little whine to commence

Once in a while I afford myself the luxury a good, solid whine. Read at your own risk.

Weary, frustrated, annoyed...did I say weary?  Describes my mental state and my physical state (probably more because of the summer cold I have - another reason I want to whine).

Stating the obvious: organizations are made of people and people are social primates and as such are driven to protect/defend/argue about: status, protocols, territory, and membership (of said organization).  It's one of those Captain Obvious moments, right? Like...if you stand in the rain you are going to get wet.

And I'm wondering if there is ever a circumstance when this organizational reality needs a good slap upside the head. When I look at the effort required for said slap - then I just feel weary again...whine, whine, whine.  Then I wonder if perhaps the head-slap is just self-serving (so I feel better) and if the right thing to do is let them have at it, do your protocol wars thing - it's a necessary tribal process.

If a group of people, an organization, has as it's primary goal the purpose of making people stronger, better, safer - shouldn't there be at least a wee bit of interest in keeping that mission at the forefront? Tribes must funnel energy and purpose into the maintenance of the tribe's existence, got it - check. When that's the fabric of every single tribe, ever, everywhere I should be smart enough to avoid jousting that windmill.

In self-defense and martial arts organizations what separates one tribe from the next is sometimes about the "what" that is taught and always about the "how" it is taught. The tribe needs a coherent identity - again I know - Captain Obvious. When the tribal identity drifts away from making people stronger, better, safer because the internal protocols become the primary agenda .... do we care? should we care? If tribes are fundamentally compelled to maintain themselves and the purpose of the tribe is secondary, is there ever a moment when jousting with the windmill has merit?

When good people with equally good commitments to helping people be stronger, better, safer forget that the mission is more important than the tribal markers we have lost ourselves -- Because I think organizations and people who care enough to teach the stuff that makes people stronger, better, safer are important, I think the loss of mission focus is more egregious. I know it's a bias. It's a bias I choose. And because of the bias I am wondering now about the slap upside the head v. jousting windmills and protocol wars and at the moment, I can't find an ounce of value in any of those efforts.