Personal Philosophy

Community is Everything

I believe in community. My life has been rooted in community. For thirteen years, I have been walking around barefoot on the grounds of Camp Sea Gull in muggy Arapahoe, North Carolina. On both side walls hang a wooden sign inscribed, “Character Counts,” with signatures of those who have been selected by members of the community to represent the values of the camp. I attend a one of the last two all-men’s colleges, Hampden-Sydney College, one that since 1776 has been “Forming good men and good citizens.” These communities, which have many similar characteristics and values, have formed who I am more than any other factor in my life. I believe that the right community is the most important factor in someone’s upbringing. The cool thing is that there is a sociological reason AND an economic reason why this is true.

I played football in high school and had cleats and gear stolen from my locker on more than one occasion. When I drove in the gates of Hampden-Sydney College as a freshman, I knew of the honor code but still locked my door when going to class. By the end of my first semester, I was leaving my backpack with my laptop on a table in the middle of the library for hours while I ate and maybe played a game of basketball. The Honor Code instilled a trust in my brothers here at Hampden-Sydney College that, “I shall not lie, cheat, or steal,” and neither shall they. How does this work? Why do people in this community choose to honor the code rather than lie, cheat, or steal to maybe get an A on that exam or steal a wallet that is lying on the ground?

Consider Game Theory. As described in Sharon Oster’s, “Modern Competitive Analysis,” Game Theory is essentially trying to predict what your competitor is going to do given a certain situation. It works under the assumption that each competitor is logical and has a beneficial choice and a costly choice. There is a key piece of information that affects how Game Theory works in a community like Hampden-Sydney College: its members, in general, want to become “good men and good citizens.” This being said, one who is a good citizen does not lie, cheat, or steal, as well as wants to learn on his own merit. Taking this under consideration, the beneficial choice for one who has the option to cheat or not for an exam is to not cheat because he values learning and being a good man more than doing well on one test. For the person who would report the cheater, his most beneficial option is to report due to his appreciation of the Honor Code. Therefore, according to Game Theory, one can expect both parties to make the most beneficial decision. That is how I can leave my backpack and laptop in the library for a couple hours while I go play basketball and know it will be there when I get back.

That is how a trusting, enthusiastic community is developed. People learn to treat other people well through, as Jonathan Drori describes in his Ted talk, “What We Think We Know,” “common sense, from experience of the world around them.” We, as members of our communities, are always observing and learning from the actions around us. Positive actions can not only be beneficial to us personally, but also can teach those around us. That is how a community like Hampden-Sydney can develop “good men and good citizens” who become the leaders of tomorrow. People in a community need to be able to expect others in the community to make decisions that are not detrimental to others and in fact help others become better people. We have to be on the same page. We can’t believe that we “are motivated by love but the other side is motivated by hate,” as described by Arthur Brooks in his Ted talk, “A Conservative’s Plea: Lets Work Together.” If this can spread from communities like Hampden-Sydney into cities around the world, crime and prejudice have a legitimate foe. This I believe.