Burning Man Thoughts, 1 week Later

I’m standing in line at a coffee shop and the man in front of me has two tags sticking out of his shirt and sweatshirt. 

At burning man, I wouldn’t hesitate to tap him gently on the shoulder and say “hey friend, your tags are sticking out, can I put them away for you?”

But in the default world, I fear he would look at me like I was crazy for asking to touch him, a stranger who I’ve never met. 

A seemingly small, but really important concept that I’ve only seen in practice at scale at burning man. The full and immediate acceptance that we are all out here living in the same world and have the ability and understanding that we’re here to help each other out. That strangers are inherently friendly and well intentioned. 

It can be like this. It is like this at the burn. And I think it’s the small unspoken things like this that keep people coming back year after year. What makes people call going to the burn “coming home”. Because you don’t feel like you’re surrounded by strangers. You are surrounded by people who will look out for you, offer a helping hand, overhear that you’re looking for your face mask and offer you one of theirs right from their pack, and will offer to tuck your tag in when standing behind you in line.