On July 4th, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the date in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. A key passage from this treasured document is: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The rights described are for all. As Americans, we love to emphasize our individual rights, a hallmark of Western culture. And individual freedoms are a wonderful thing to celebrate.
But we occasionally take individual rights too far. Our lives are intertwined with those around us, including familiar faces and strangers. We are affected by each other’s actions. Therefore, individual rights have limits. We need balance between our rights and freedoms, and those of others. For example, the Bill of Rights restricts freedom of speech that spreads hatred and violence that would harm others. And the overall good of the larger group may mean putting others before ourselves. That group could be our family, coworkers, neighbors, or country.
One word that embraces the needs and rights of others is teamwork, a Positive Psychology character strength. These are universal values which help people thrive, identified through 4 years of world-wide research. According to Psychology Today, “teamwork—working with other people to achieve a shared goal—is essential in just about every domain. Humans are social animals. Civilization itself is the result of the pooled effort of innumerable people over thousands of years. Cooperation allows humans to solve problems that individuals acting alone, could not solve.” Cooperation is inclusive and connects us. “Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there,” wrote Virginia Burden, American author. Nelson Mandela, former South African President, was jailed for years due to his civil rights activism. He said, “for to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” The School of Positive Transformation believes “teamwork is more than just being an abiding citizen or individual of your community or country, and it’s about having a greater sense of social responsibility for particular groups of people or even all of humanity.” Indeed. as Robert Ingersoll, American politician, wrote, “We rise by lifting others.”
Teamwork has been studied in corporate workplaces. The School of Positive Transformation reported that Google conducted research on 180 teams in their company. They found that in “the best teams, members show sensitivity, and most importantly, listen to one another.” This project coined the term “psychological safety.” This means “a shared belief that the team is safe for personal risk-taking, like talking about one’s struggles, points of weaknesses, triggers, and even strengths. The best teams are mindful that all members should contribute to the conversation equally, and respect one another’s emotions. It has less to do with who is in a team, and more with how the members interact with one another. Members should respect every aspect of other members, though they may not agree with it: ideas, communication abilities, background, religion, work style, and cultural traditions.”
So, what happens when we do not cooperate and consider the needs of others? Many past leaders have warned us. In 1768, John Dickinson, a Pennsylvania assemblyman, wrote the Liberty Song, one of our first patriotic songs. The last stanza begins: “Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.” Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt warned, “Pit race against race, religion against religion, prejudice against prejudice. Divide and conquer! We must not let that happen here.” President Theodore Roosevelt said, “This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.”
President Ronald Reagan said, “If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen. He spoke during Black History Month in 1982, saying that our “rich diversity has been such a vital part of our country’s greatness…. We are a people whose strength flows from the unity molded from that diversity.” And America is diverse in many ways. Juggling diversity is challenging but rewarding. Mahatma Gandhi observed that “our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” In closing, Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations once said, “We have to transcend our differences to transform our future.”
