Look Out For Each Other is the expectation that you pay attention to more than your own group. Community is not only who you are partying with, it is also how you behave towards people you have never met. The rule costs you nothing and occasionally decides somebody else's entire night.
What Community Means Here
With the people you arrived with, it is easy. The actual test runs two metres further out, among the strangers. Whether somebody has been standing alone in the same spot for half an hour. Whether somebody is being crowded and cannot get away. Whether somebody is not quite present any more. That attention is the substance behind the word community; the rest is a feeling of belonging.
In Practice
Two situations, two responses. Someone looks uncomfortable: check in. One short sentence is enough, and a shake of the head is a legitimate answer. Something feels wrong: get the awareness team. Not once you are certain — before. A suspicion that turns out to be nothing has harmed nobody.
AT TWINK DEATH
You are not expected to resolve anything yourself. That is what the team is for. This is not about stepping between people or handling a situation you were never trained for. It is about not walking past it. Three steps, in this order: "Notice. Check in. Get support." The third one is not a defeat.
Related Terms
- Awareness — the team, the concept and what it actually does.
- Community First — where this expectation comes from.
Where the awareness team is and what happens after you speak to them: Awareness Concept