Whenever I hear a catch phrase like “let’s make sure we are all on the same page”, my body ripples with some species of a slithering revulsion. Even though my mind can track the reasoning, my body has its own response. Especially when the phrase is uttered by the face of corporate reach such as a school principal. My mind understands the reason a “leader” in charge of a team would want to adopt this sort of logic behind team building. It is easy to understand the need for structure if a group of people is actively working toward an objective. But my body knows there is something missing, something wrong with the picture. There is something wrong with the method.
I can remember feeling resentful as a 3rd grader when the teacher said not to read ahead. I didn’t understand the point. If I was interested in the story why should I have to wait for everyone to catch up? What if someone already read it with a parent? I’ve resented many admonitions not to wander off. But now, it is not a physical restriction I resent, it is the mental restriction because staying on the same page denies the existence of all the other pages. Good decision making cannot take place without a full examination of all pertinent pages. Our decision making process is severely handicapped by the notion of all being on the same page.
I fundamentally disagree with anything that smacks of prescriptive mono-culture. When the “leader” asserts that we should be on the page, it feels like a cultural slap in the face and personal attack on my Hebraic roots. Debate cannot be suppressed. Dissent will always exist. Isn’t there something about fencing things in to keep control? Well don't.
Here is what is acceptable, when the intention of being on the same page is to make sure everyone is up to date and filled in. What is not acceptable is using the phrase as a guilt prod to get people to fall in line with the program. That’s what makes the revulsion rise up.
We might settle on a page for a while but we humans are not just settlers, we are also hunter gatherers who seek diversity in our diets. We raise up natural scouts and sharp sighted visionaries. Being fenced into one page is too limiting, counter-productive and anti-multicultural. That is why I recommend turning the page. Sometimes, you can even skip it.
