The first thing that came to mind when reading about Peck's theory was the development of any friendship. When I came to OSU I didn't know anyone, so I signed up to be an Ohio Welcome Leader (OWL). The group was definitely a psuedocommunity from the start. People were just getting to know one another and didn't want to say anything that could be off-putting. No one really knew much about anyone else in the group.
In a matter of hours, the group moved into the chaos phase. People found others who had similar interests or backgrounds and cliques quickly formed. As a whole group, we got through the chaos by organization. When move-in day came, we each did our respective jobs and completed the task. Within my friend group in OWL, we took the path of emptiness.
I no longer talk to most of the people from my OWL group because we never moved passed the chaos phase of development. The friends that I still talk to and I all come from different backgrounds and have very different interests, but realized that those differences challenge us to try new things. I have a true, authentic community with those friends because we voice our opinions and work through our conflicts. We're not afraid to express how we truly feel because we appreciate others challenging our ways of thinking.
Consensus played a huge role in the development or lack thereof in these communities. The overall community of my OWL group could not fully develop because some people held us back from consensus. As a whole, there was not an environment conducive for the expression of everyone's opinions. However, within the smaller community of my friends we were able to achieve consensus. This was achieved because of our mutual respect for one another's differences.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I used to think when I make friends, I probably would make friends with people who are more similar to me. But from you story, I learned the importance of making friends that are from very different backgrounds.
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