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The Necessary Enemy
Having a place to aim our antipathy clears the way for productivity and harmony elsewhere.
In every social setting there is one person that is relatively disliked by all the rest. In a group of friends or an association of colleagues, there is always one who is secretly ridiculed and disfavored. I often wonder if there is any one individual who is more valuable to the end of creating cohesion and camaraderie among the other members of the social group. This antagonist plays the role of an inverted leader, giving the group a common purpose and direction, but instead of it being from following an individual, it is due to movement away from that individual.
There is really little difference between an external foe and one planted directly within a group. Just as any team or army is motivated to in-group cooperation by the challenge of the opposition, so too does the insertion of some of that antagonistic element within the group work to fasten together and focalize the members.
Among life’s tasks, too, we must always be careful to retain some burdensome toil. The worker who is passionate about some craft laments that their job keeps them from engaging in it. If they should ever find themselves without that obstructive burden, then, surely some aspect of their favored craft, if not the craft in its…
