Are YOU a groupie?

chill...chill..no sexual innuendos to the title okay. steer away from that thought for awhile..

I was flipping through my secondary school annual books that day and i reminisced about how much fun AND sufferings i went through back in my alma mater, Cedar Girl's Secondary School. that's right. i was a from an all girls school. no surprise where i developed my feminist streak. You know, back in the days, we had so much pride in our school. there's so much unity amongst us and definitely, a generous amount of attitude shown to our neighbouring schools. we always had that strong sense of belonging to Cedar and would always be defensive when others spoke ill of us. there's even this unwritten rule of how you should wear your school uniform.but of course, it is NOT like how they told us to, in the student handbook.

How to look good in the infamous blue and grey

1. always buy your blouses at least 2 sizes bigger. means if you're a 38, 40 would be nice.
2. ALWAYS wear your tie no matter how merciless the sun may get. and to not tighten it so much. let it hang a little loose. but not too loose such that you look sloppy.
3. your skirt should be a little tight to show some curves, but not too tight that it may create an impression of promiscuity on adults.
4. the ratio of your skirt lenght to your blouse lenght should be 1 : 3.
5. always always tuck in your blouse BUT get as much of your humungous blouse out. (rmb the ratio)
6. when exiting school, ALWAYS take out your nametag BUT NOT your school badge. (yes, our identity reinforced despite the infamous blue blouse and grey skirts)
7. and your socks should always be ankle socks. usually we will wear normal socks in school and then magically transform it into ankle socks later in the day. OR the more rebellious ones will just come in ankle socks and suffer the consequences when caught by disciplinarians.

but well, not everyone will adhere to this unwritten rule. its not a rule, more of a guide. some will adhere to parts of it. like for me, having conservative parents, the 1/3 skirt rule..was frowned upon. so yes, i was THAT girl with the knee lenght skirt. not really a fun thing espescially when your teachers start using you as a role model of how your skirt lenght should be. grr.

One other groupie that will always have a place in my heart would be my NPCC groupmates. yes yes. i was from a uniform group. one that was physically torturous, mentally exhausting, and delightfully pleasant. like Cedar as a whole, we too had strong pride in our squad. we had an identity. HERMES. our name was of a greek god. NOT the fashion label. excuseee me.

we were closest to one another throughout 4 years in Cedar. we eat together, study together,had outings together, tortured together, fought together, did stupid things together. we saw everyone's sweat, tears,smile, blood in all 18 of us. we would think alike, fill in each other's sentences, comfort each other in times of sadness, cheer in loud unity. everything there is to do as a group, we did. we were exactly as how COM101 put us to be, " a collection of individuals who developed interdependancy, shared patterns of behaviour and a collective identity due to prolonged interaction with one another" wicked way to slip in a definition aye? haha.

but like all REALLY close-knitted groups, we developed what they call, the GROUPTHINK symptoms. due to the fact that we were so united espescially when we were in our cadet days, we always thought that we were the best. although it may not be the truth in many different factors. but this belief was what gave us strenght and optimism. we shared stereotypes. the ins and outs of npcc. we'd constantly look at other units of our batch and compare them to us. slightly sniggering most of the time. can't blame us. because when you're in a group, everyone else falls below you. its not a matter of individual arrogance, but more of an inculcated belief. like i said, we had that disease...GROUPTHINK. whenever faced with a problem, we would sit down and rationalise together. majority always wins. and the minorities won't really voice their unhappiness when the votes are in. its like there's this acceptance of everything in the way we work.

although, there will be a time when internal tension arrives and thats where we have to combat this GROUPTHINK symptoms. we'd usually have a "thrashing out" session where everyone is of equal status. no leader, no follower. everyone will voice out their opinions, disagreements, grudges and attempt to make peace with everyone. everyone would be the Devil's advocate at some point of the session, giving multi-sided opinions and alternative ideas to every problems raised, like the cashier des doleances a.k.a list of grievances of the french revolution.

ahh, the nostalgia.. groups are what makes you feel this sense of belonging. it could be a temporary group, maybe one that last for a month? or a group that withstand the trials of time. either way, they allow people to feel acceptance, the need to be included, the need to sometimes control, the need for affection. just as how William Schutz have intelligently put it. and when a group does not meet these interpersonal needs of an individual, most likely they will change groups until the groups are deemed satisfactory to them.

in my humble opinion, everyone admittedly or not, desire to be in a group (even those who declared to be a non-conformist). it is some sort of an escape of the reality of life whereby everything is ABOUT YOU and you alone. how you manage your time, how you deal with your problems, how you want your future to be, how when you die, you bring nothing but yourself to your grave. it is but of course, just my two cents.

what about you? what are your thoughts about being in a group? needed? or complete exxageration and soooo over-rated?

FUN FACTS:

Bananas relief menstrual cramps. (sorry guys, none to relief PMS)