How To Hold A Feeling In Your Hands

In 1802, Napoleon proposed the Legion of Honor, a new system of accolades in France.

Many people weren’t thrilled. After all, the French had just spent a decade dismantling the monarchy. Handing out fancy medals to distinguished citizens came off as a strange way to celebrate the end of class distinctions.

Napoleon’s defense was cutting:

“You tell me that class distinctions are baubles used by monarchs; I defy you to show me a republic, ancient or modern, in which distinctions have not existed. You call these medals and ribbons baubles; well, it is with such baubles that men are led.”

He went on to say: “Do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning? Never.”

He’s got a point. After all, it would be absurd to risk your life for a little piece of metal attached to a ribbon. Except, of course, nobody’s really risking their life for the ribbon. They’re risking it for the meaning imbued in it.

Courage. Sacrifice. Duty. Honor. The respect of their peers. The acknowledgment that they went to extraordinary lengths for an important cause.

All these big feelings squeezed into a tiny piece of metal because, as humans, we have a primal need to attach meaning to symbols.

Symbols, stripped of their meaning, aren’t particularly valuable.

Try telling your wife that her engagement ring is just a piece of metal. Or tell a veteran that their country’s flag is just a bit of cloth. See how far that gets you.

Symbols give us something to point to that says, with no words at all, this is who we are; this is what’s important to us. This is our legacy.

This becomes increasingly crucial as humans coalesce into larger groups.

Think about it: When five people are working together, they probably don’t need much help understanding what their team stands for. They’re the only ones in the group; everyone has the same information.

But what happens when five becomes fifty? Or five hundred? Or fifty thousand?

Suddenly, not everyone has the same stories. Not everyone knows each other. Not everyone was there when the group was created.

The shared experiences that once held everyone together become harder to share. That’s where symbols can help carry meaning beyond the people who experienced it firsthand. They offer newcomers that same meaning to hold in their hands.

A bauble works like a psychological stamp, a seal, a sign-off from your team, your tribe, your culture, that says, “This is what we stand for. And you are part of it.”

Keep this in mind when your team makes their next round of merch.