Let's Talk Politics: Brexit

I rarely never share my political standpoint on Classy Cathleen. When I was an 8th grader and taking those last glance overs of my pros/cons list prior to creating my blog, I had political opinions on the cons side. As a lifestyle blogger, especially one under voting age, y'all aren't here to hear about how greatly upset I am by the current state of America's politics or other issues. However, from the many articles and tweets I've read late last night and all day, I've heard repeatedly how shocked people are about the majority of Britain choosing to exit the European Union. Here's an analogy my mom told me that helped me understand the human nature in this particular matter and why no, it's really not surprising that it was not a small minority voting to leave, but instead the greater majority. 

You've just been assigned a group project. Let's say you have to write an essay and present various findings from a text that you and your group have read. No matter what the task is, in group work there is almost always a situation that unfolds similar to the one I'm about to describe. The different characters in every group you ever work in have different faces but similar work ethics and characteristics..... It seems like every time there is a slacker, leader, a couple confused and less important but still key members to the group, and then sometimes there's one that's stuck in the middle of the insanely driven hard worker and the slacker and the confused. Not that their work ethic lies somewhere between all of the other group members, but that they have the ability to do the work without the group. 

The slacker knows that they could put in a lot of work to help the group, or they could do something much more beneficial with their time like scroll through Twitter or daydream about warm, sunny days on the beach. They know that because they are a part of the group for this assignement, the group members will not leave them entirely. They'll do the work for them. This of course does not contribute anything to the group as a whole. The only person that benefits is the slacker because they get to ride the coattails of an individual or a couple of hardworking individuals. They get the good grade without lifting a finger. 

The Hardworking leader of the group has to share their success with everyone else in the group who did a significant less amount of work. Sometimes their is a leader that is not okay with everyone getting credit for their work, but for the purpose of this analogy, it's in the leaders blood to do hard work. 

Everyone else in the group might be confused or merely just drifting by except for one other person. Imagine that you are this other person. You're smart, capable, creative, driven, and have all that it takes to complete the assignment without the group. You're looking around and because you've been assisting the one that's been pulling the most weight in the group... You don't want to completely leave them on their own, but at the same point you have to do what's best for you. It's hurting you and the time that you have to spend making up for the lack of work from the good ol' slacker, means that you have less time to spend on your own working out things in your own personal life aside from the group. You feel slightly torn. You don't want to leave the group because they rely on you, but at the end of the day, what do you need to do in order to achieve personal success. 

I know I did a TERRIBLE job explaining that whole analogy. I can only hope though that you were able to see the connections I was trying to make. 

The slacker in this situation would be Greece or a similar country that heavily relies on the protection they get from countries like Britain and Germany, the hardworker in the above situation. Now if somehow you were able to separate your personal opinions about #Brexit and consider why it makes sense that they would naturally pull out and make it on their own... Snaps for you! 

Obviously I'm not imposing much of a political opinion... more just explaining why I personally was not surprised when the outcome unfolded the way it did. If you have the ability to complete the project in an hour without having to save the butts of the slackers or negotiate the fine details with the natural leader of the group and can complete the necessary tasks on your own.... Why would you stay with the group? To me it just makes sense that naturally you would leave and go it alone...