I mentioned connection and disconnection from the learning community yesterday.

Christine Locher – one of the good ones – said this in a comment on LinkedIn:

People gather in different circles. And I’d hope we are no longer at the schoolyard stage where there is cliques and the cool kids and the uncool kids.

Christine Locher, LinkedIN

Christine’s use of circles reminded me of my reference to orbits a few years ago. Orbiting is cool because orbits collide and, when they do, they create sparks.

One of the problems with some communities, as Christine mentions, is that those communities generate an immense gravitational pull. We’re sucked into the cycle of what they do and, if we’re sucked into the ‘black hole’ of association. We no longer orbit – we are assimilated.

Breaking free of that gravity requires both intent and force. I applaud people who have the energy and the motivation to launch.

And me? I’d rather be an independent kid who is occasionally cool than a cool kid who is occasionally independent.