Thursday, October 15, 2009

Day Three of my experiment. I've gotten several comments from people reading this both on the blog and in person so, thanks! It was a fairly interesting day today for sightings:

• I passed a cream colored VW Beetle convertible driven by a woman in her twenties with a "Baby on Board" sign in the back right next to a "Grandmas for Obama" sticker... one of those things did not seem to fit.
• I saw two overly-affectionate construction workers hugging on the side of the road... it was a weird sight!
• There was a great bumper sticker that said "I'm all that's left of a bizarre childhood". Totally describes my life.

There were two things that happened today that made me stop and think. First, I saw the Kentucky/Alabama House Divided guy again. It made me wonder how many of the same people I drive to work with every day and I have no idea who they are. In the car culture that we live in we're in insulated bubbles with our own music and conversations and never bother with people in the other "bubbles". I wonder if it would be different if I took public transit (if that was an option for me). Would I be on a bus or train with the some of the same people every day and would I interact with them or would I shut down with my cell phone or iPod? How would our culture look if we were all forced to interact with non-friends or family during our commutes? 

The second thing that happened started when I decided to write down all the vanity tags that I saw today along with the corresponding car type. I saw quite a few, here's the list:

• DUCTRK - Ford F150
• LAVON - Mitsubishi Eclipse
• MOUSE88 - Pontiac Gran Prix
• FIRELDY - Classic Mercedes Convertible (I couldn't see the model)
• PBURKS - Dodge Intrepid
• RGPHHR - Chevrolet HHR
• SFTBL7 - Dodge Ram
• PROHR - Mercedes G Class
• PRLE89 - Chevrolet Cobalt
• DKPONY - Ford Mustang - Shelby Cobra edition
• 1TPEACE - Buick Rendezvous
• HO-3 - Mistubushi Galant
• WE ROOF - Dodge Ram
• KT BEL - Saturn Ion

So, it was a fun exercise although in retrospect I wish that I had recorded the type of license plate each car had because it seems like most of them also had specialty or collegiate plates. I've always had a hard time understanding these plates because I hate having to pay the taxes each year to get my tags renewed and the thought of having to shell out an additional $50-$100 gives me the shakes. But I tried to put myself in these people's shoes to figure out why they would do this. Then it hit me: each person wants to fit in and they want to be unique. 

Think about it - how many collegiate plates or stickers do you see in a given day? How many Willowbrook magnets do you see on mini vans driving around town? People want community; they want to be a part of a larger group. They want to see someone with the same tag or same sticker and feel connected. 

At the same time, many of these people want their own unique identity within their community. They want to stick out with a custom tag; they want to be differentiated from the rest of the Auburn or Alabama fans. So they are willing to pay $100 to be a unique part of a smaller community. It's really what we all want - we want to fit in without blending in.

So, here's your challenge: find someone and be their community. Provide the affinity that they desire that will allow them to fit in. And when you're with your groups of people, find out the unique attributes in people to keep them from blending into the background.

Thanks for reading this super long post. If you or someone you know uses vanity tags or specialty tags or both comment on this and let me know what that particular tag was chosen...