Community

I mentioned this term yesterday, community. In fact, I closed the post with the topic.

Successful people – and citizens – look for problems to solve. Each challenge is an opportunity for success. Change itself is an opportunity for success. These test our mettle. They call for creativity. And community.

And community. More on this another time. But community requires our involvement for it to prosper. I think the seeds of solutions to common problems are found in community. Now there’s a puzzle with a solution!

A puzzle with a solution. Living in community. Participating in the community. Getting to know the community, its people and its culture. Being a part of it.

I link these statements with the phrase, ‘it takes a village to raise a child.’ Remember the little old lady living next door? She often baby sat our kids. She asked them for help with her yard work from time to time. And she would pay the kids to do chores for her like cleaning out a closet, polishing the silver, mowing the lawn, or straightening up her basement. These were the chores she no longer could do. And so she paid the kids a small amount to help them and herself.

In doing that she built a relationship. She knew the kids. She talked with them. Every now and then they would individually go next door to talk with her. In her small ways, she helped root our kids in understanding older people.

The community also invests in its people and our kids in many ways; churches do this in obvious ways. But so do the library and park districts all over the nation. They develop programs to meet the needs and interests of our children. They program to meet the unique needs of all age groups represented in the community. Local schools do this, too.

The community is very much a part of our lives growing up and living each of our days. And we are a part of that same community simultaneously. Local businesses make up a portion of our community. Large employers provide many jobs and public services to the community. Institutions and organizations add even more zest to the mix. And, too, small businesses and shops.

Community is with us wherever we invest energy and life. Remember your work community; also, your school communities. And the dorm and campus life of college days? You remember those. Community surrounds us. We participate in community in many ways.

Talk with a Roman Catholic religious – a nun or priest. They were educated in community and continue to be in community throughout their lives. In fact, it was a Catholic nun who introduced this term to me. She went on and on about the value of community within the church, within her order of sisters.

There are people who deny community helps raise a child. Yes, I know; they are denying an obvious truth. The opposite they believe quickly: poor environment leads to societal breakdown, crime and violence. Their example are slums and the youth that come out as gang leaders, drug addicts and mini mobsters. They will assume the negative value of community but not the positive!

I am a believer, though. I am certain that community is most likely the second most important glue in our lives, second to family. In weak and dysfunctional families, it is the community which offers repair to the members of such families.

If we are experiencing social problems and challenges, I think we need look no farther than our own communities to find the assets with which to solve the problems. And if our community assets are a bit thin at times, a little work and cooperation will fix that quickly.

After all, community is where our family lives, and our friends and trusted advisers, too. It deserves our commitment and investment of time, interest and effort.

If not, what can we do to help you and your community?

November 14, 2017