Synergy

This year, my daughter’s American public school had a mission statement: “In this class, we promise to be a team. We will work hard and create synergy. We will treat others well to be successful in second grade.”

Notice, it’s not “I will get all A’s or cram the textbook until I’m exhausted,” but rather WE will care for others… I’m pleased that my child is being taught about synergy and the power of teamwork.

Synergy and community are interesting topics. I’m increasingly realizing that many projects are not just about founders, but about the synergy of growth among people in a team. A team needs to be understood; one must know what it wants to achieve, offer opportunities, and together monetize achievements. A team is a whole, and it is always greater than the sum of its isolated members.

The mission of the second graders also reminded me of the concept of Environmental Dignity (ED). I first heard about ED from my professor, Sofia Kimovna Nartova-Bachaver. ED is the process of your environment reinforcing your own value. This reinforcement occurs through relationships, salary, culture, morality, and aesthetics that highlight your significance…

In Russia, I inevitably lost that sense of ED. Even in Rublevka, where six generations of my ancestors, including myself, lived, I personally found it hard not to feel the façade and to feel worthy while witnessing poverty and trauma beyond my oasis.

It seemed to me that people were waiting for help but no longer believed in it. I hope that someday we will understand that we shouldn’t rely on a “master” or even on ourselves, but on US. After all, if a team of second graders who care for each other is a force, then what can we say about a much larger team of adults?