Structure

In the fall of 1999, when I had just started in financial aid at the California Institute of Integral Studies, my boss and I were trying to catch up on work that hadn't been done because there had been no one in the FAO for two months. The floor was covered in piles of student files about ten high. I mean covered - Cathy and I had to hop to get to the file cabinets that were behind our desks (it should be noted that Cathy, myself, ten filing cabinets, a bookshelf, two chairs, our desks and chairs, and a cabinet were crammed into a space about 10'x12').

A student came in, one who had worked for me at the Front Desk, to consult with Cathy. Cathy asked if I knew where her file was, because obviously it wasn't in the filing cabinet. I pointed to a couple of the piles near the corner of my desk, saying, "It's in one of these two." Indeed, the file was in the first pile to which I had pointed. The student remarked, "You must be a Virgo."
(That's the kind of thing you would hear in the hallways of CIIS). Later she ran my chart (without my asking) and we discovered that not only am I a Virgo but almost half my planets are in Virgo, making me, I guess, a pretty intense Virgo.

Virgos, it turns out, like structure, but don't care too much about organization. That is to say, we like to - and often do - know where everything is, but we're not particularly attached to
where exactly that is. For example, I try and try to alphabetize things, like CDs or spices, and I just can't keep them that way. But I will remember generally where in the drawer the rosemary is, even if I haven't used it in awhile.

I've been involved in a couple events where the structure kept things from falling apart - where taking turns to speak prevented a shouting match, where people were allowed to finish a thought without interruption, and where everyone got heard. I've noticed that having a structure gives something for people to invest in when emotions are running high, and in the situations I've been in it's kept people in them, resolving to work through whatever the issue was.

I've also been witness to what happens when the structure breaks down, and have seen people run out of meetings. I knew the structure was broken, but by the time people were running out it was too late to fix.

Personally, I like structure, maybe because I'm a Virgo, maybe because I just like to know what is going to happen. When the structure is wobbly, and is about to fall on our heads, I get really uncomfortable and fidget and stare at the leader of the group, willing that person to pull us back together. There have been a few times when I've considered running out, but I haven't, because I think maybe I can help to somehow get the discussion or agenda back on track.

When I was in Camp Odyssey, one of our leaders likened the Camp to a boat on the sea. He said that if the boat were to start to fall apart, people would dive overboard - but people diving overboard was what would cause the boat to sink. So we all had to stay in the boat, and encourage others to stay in the boat, so we could keep sailing to our destination.