The truth as we know it.

Several years ago I participated in an interactive workshop that changed the way I looked at the world. It was a leadership program sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce.  And while I’m sure that everyone attending that workshop came away with a different interpretation than mine, it’s mine that counts, especially for me anyway. And isn’t that the purpose of any workshop?

It’s called the Webster Parish Leadership program.  And while I reveal some of the inner workings of this workshop, I want you to know that I support what they are doing and would encourage anyone that can to participate in this program. It really was one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve had in recent years.

We were assigned a massive book to read so that we would understand the ‘rules of the game.’  We committed to a weekend at a lodge at Lake Bistineau.   There were about two dozen of us. When we arrived, we were divided into three categories or teams, I should say.  The red team (the poor / lower class). The yellow team (the middle class). And the green team (the rich/upper class) .  Each team was taken to a different room at the lodge.  We were not allowed to communicate with one another.  Each team was given ‘resource’ envelopes filled with meal tickets and special ‘coupons’ that allotted your team so many judgeships, elected leaders both local and national, etc.  There was only one person that could move from room to room and was allowed to communicate with the various teams.  It was the news media.  I would come to learn how important this role was.

In the green team’s envelope were meal tickets for every member of the team. They also had the majority of coupons for a variety of leadership positions from the main judges to the sheriff and members of congress. In the yellow team’s envelope there were meal tickets for half of their team members, a few coupons for leadership positions.  In the red team’s envelope, there was absolutely nothing.

The object of the game was to make sure that society did not collapse and the measure of that was to make sure that the poor were fed.   If the poor starved, your society collapsed and the game was over. 

LET THE GAME BEGIN: Round 1—“Simsoc”

I was assigned to the Green Team. The news media came to the Green Team’s room and shared with us the ‘concerns of the poor.’ It was at this point that it became apparent to us who each team represented.  It was our place to try to figure out a way to help the poor and make sure that they did not starve. What surprised me were the greedy comments that came out of the mouths of my fellow team members.  They were more concerned about maintaining their own wealth and control of that wealth then they were of making sure the poor were fed or had jobs for that matter.  There was some discussion about creating industrial opportunities for the poor but they were all conditional.  As each team strategized about how they could contribute to a healthy society while feeding the poor, the day turned into night. 

We were not allowed to speak to one another about any of the goings on in each of our groups.  We were dismissed for dinner.  We each retreated to our assigned cabins and washed up for our evening meal.  As we arrived at the kitchen, we understood that we had to have a meal ticket to eat.  That part of the exercise was real. The meal tickets in each of our envelopes meant real food for our team members and other team members…or not. 

As we lined up for our meals, I looked around to see who didn’t receive a meal. It looked like everyone did.  I’m not sure now if I really understood this game at this point.  As we finished our meals, the facilitator made the announcement that we had indeed ‘survived’ round one.  The poor had been fed. We would go to bed knowing that everyone was fed.  Our simulated society was saved.  And we would start round 2 bright and early the next morning.

Breakfast was done the same way. Meal tickets were collected and we divided up again into our respective rooms.  Again the news media visited each team and relayed the demands and wishes of the other teams.  It seemed that the biggest demands and the largest concerns came from the Red Team. They were begging for jobs. They didn’t care what they were paid. They just wanted to feed their families.  The Yellow Team was asking the Green Team to consider using their resources to create jobs.  And the Green Team was demanding respect and more appreciation for what they had done. (Which truly wasn’t much in my opinion.)   I know I’ve simplified it but that’s what it all came down to for me anyway.  

At the end of Round 2, I wondered again did we win?  Did we save our society from collapse?   We all met together to share our experiences and to learn the fate of our simulated society.  This was an emotional meeting for me. The reality of this game was too close for comfort.  In real society I would obviously not be a member of the Green Team but rather the Yellow Team. But this exercise gave me an opportunity to experience the mindset of the elite and the privileged even if it was in a fantasy setting.  

As we all discussed the results of some of our decisions, we learned that the news media (which was actually one person who translated, interpreted and reported for each of the teams) had indeed misrepresented some issues. Not necessarily on purpose.  We learned that she had tried to manipulate the system or the game with details that were either left out or changed slightly to gain the kind of reaction she personally was hoping to reach.  She thought she was helping. Now, I’m not sure at this point if the woman who represented the news media was influenced by anything other than her  own conscious or if she was instructed to lean a certain way so as to give some authenticity to the game or not.  Didn’t matter, because I saw it as a reflection of our own country’s exchange of information and reporting bias and I became to realize how easy it would be to change a country’s perception of events based on who owned the news media.

As the round table discussion progressed and each of us were allowed to share our opinion and/or experiences of this game, the facilitator did reveal again that society did not collapse. We had managed to feed the poor in round 2.  I was so surprised.  I knew that my team had not given up one single meal ticket to any other team in round 1 or round 2.

 “Who fed them?” I asked.  “The Middle Class!”  The facilitator went on to explain that half of the middle class gave up their meal ticket on round 1 so that the poor could be fed. And the other half gave up their meal tickets in round 2.   ‘ Of course!’  I thought. ‘ Isn’t that the way of our society today?’  It’s the middle class that carried the burden of feeding the poor while the elite worried about their riches and maintaining control, I thought.

That single exercise changed me and changed many of the decisions I made after that.  I realize that it was just a game. But was it really?