Now that the amazing weather has finally arrived, motorcycles are everywhere. It’s funny that riders wave to each other as they cross paths. Ride a motorcycle and you are instantly in a tribe. “I don’t know you, but you ride a motorcycle, so you are one of us.”

A friend of mine drives a Corvette and it’s the same way. Corvette drivers wave to each other as they pass. (It amuses me that my friend waves to Corvette drivers even when he is in his truck.) Do you feel some affinity to people that drive the same car as you?

This instant acceptance happens in other areas, too. I know that I can go to nearly any CrossFit gym and be accepted as one of them while I am there. Shared suffering is a potent connector. If I wear a CrossFit t-shirt when I am out and about, there is a good chance strangers will talk to me for that reason alone.

We naturally seek to build connections by our similarities. This is even more common in the age of social media, with our dearth of real connections. Based on one interaction or idea, people will assume you are either one of us or “one of those people.”

The upside of this is that often people will connect and accept each other with just one common interest. Maybe there is hope for world peace!

The downside is that people often reject someone as irredeemable based on one interaction or offending statement. “People in that tribe are awful.” Is it fair to assume someone is a terrible person without seeking to understand them?

What are the tribes in which you belong?

Before you reject someone, what could you do to understand them?