There was a time, in my younger days (I mean, like really young - around high school) when I thought that my dream car to own would be a Porsche 911. The dream must have lasted, because I also remember one of my old college roommates buying me a die cast model and framed picture of a 911 and said, "Dude, some day this will be yours!" I know I am older, and I must be wiser now. Or at least I have reached the point where there is absolutely no way that I would ever spend $100,000 on a car! For quite some time, my dream car has been a Jeep Wrangler. The Wrangler is not necessarily a family friendly car, so over the years my wife and I have owned a long line of sports utility vehicles and mini-vans. The last time that I walked in to a Jeep dealer, I ended up buying a Jeep Liberty as a more economical, family friendly, practical car. The dream of a Wrangler would just have to wait a little longer.
Well it just so happened that over the last 2 weeks, the Wheeler family has found ourselves in need of another car. My wife and I usually flip flop on the car purchases, so it was my turn to purchase a new car this time. She basically told me, "Get what you want!" (I have an incredibly loving wife!). So after researching Jeep Wranglers on the Internet, I test drove a new 2017 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited last weekend. The salesman was a wonderful elderly man who did not pressure me at all. I thanked him for his time, and I told him I liked the car and would probably be back later (the first thing that I told him was that I was not going to purchase a new car that day). I went back to the dealership on Memorial Day, and now I am the owner of a new 2017 Jeep Wrangler - my dream car! It is awesome, and I love it!
I was meeting my wife and one of my daughters for dinner. On the way, I passed two other Jeep Wranglers driving in the opposite direction. Both drivers waved at me. I thought to myself, "That's kind of different." I know that motorcycle riders wave at each other on the road, so maybe this was a "Jeep thing" too. While waiting for my wife and daughter to arrive, I looked up "Jeep" and "wave" on the Internet. Sure enough, there is something called the "Jeep Wave" that Wrangler drivers do whenever they pass one another on the road. Now why didn't the car salesman at the Jeep dealership tell me that? I felt really rude that I hadn't waved at the other drivers. Now I do. It's kind of fun!
As I was thinking about the "Jeep Wave", I could not help but think that people are really quite similar. All we want to do is to feel like we belong. Jeep Wrangler owners all have something in common, and I suspect it's more than just owning a Jeep Wrangler. I suspect that it is a feeling of being a kindred spirit - driving down the road (or even off the road) with the top down and the wind blowing your hair all over. It's all about freedom. Freedom to drive wherever you want, without the constraints of having to drive on the road.
There is something really powerful in the shared understanding that comes with being part of a group. All we really need in this world is something to be a part of - whether it is a family, a community, a club, or a team. We just want to belong to something. What a great gift for a team leader - that feeling of togetherness that we are all here for one purpose, one goal, one mission. There is a collective vision that keeps pushing us towards our ultimate goal, and as a team, we can achieve great things together.
For Jeep Wrangler owners (and really for everyone else that is part of something bigger), there's a lot more to it than just a wave. I know that now - I had to figure that out on my own. And maybe that was the salesman's intent all along.
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