Belonging Longing

 After hearing that most hotels in the city were booked a year ahead because a certain stage singer was coming to town, I began to wonder why.  It's easy to pooh pooh such things but the question that always arises is "why"? What is this need for hundreds, thousands to collect in one place just to hear a human being of passing popularity, sing songs and prance about on a stage? It's not much more special than listening to the song which can be purchased or nipped on-line for free. It's more than that. From what I have heard about mass human participation, it's more to be with a bunch of other people and sway and sing along and gaze on a spectacle together. It's an affirmation of being among our kind. Like a  flock of little fish or birds or junebugs all grouping together, we humans love to mingle and move in hoards and feel we belong. When you see videos of masses of humankind at concerts, all holding their cell phones in the air and swaying  and crooning in front of a large stage with a few little colourful bodies moving about like hopping ants , it is a strange sight. But there's  a reason why we creatures do it. We love to be part of a large, like, swaying and humming mass. It makes each individual feel less lonely. These folks aren't conscious of the reasons during the time they are there, they just want to be a part of it all. It makes them feel that they are the stage and the star, too, as they move and make sounds along with the "stars". Some political figures not only in the past but now also,  and likely to be, in the future,  can take advantage of this mass need to be part of a group and can direct that emotional behaviour in a number of directions.  Hopefully it is in the right and moral direction. This kind of crowd appeal is nothing new in society and harks back to the early days of man when being in a group meant security and assurance that one is protected. When our primitive ancestors sang or danced together, they felt that common bond. Nothing new.