I recently found a new magazine focused on farming, crafting, and sustainability. I was immediately fascinated! I had to have it! Upon receiving the publication, I hungrily (pun totally intended) flipped through the glossy pages absolutely transfixed by the promise of all the crafts and recipes – SO. MANY. POSSIBILITIES! I came to an article about the idea of community – the author was asking “in this day and time, where relationships are so fluid and in which we find ourselves so jaded, what is community?” As I read on, I found her discussion frustratingly realistic; this was not a simplified discussion on how communities work together and things are all cozy and perfect – this woman was reeling from losing her home to a fire and then having her few surviving belongings stolen by her drug addicted neighbor.
All my cheery little thoughts faded as I sat trying to answer her question for myself. Each time I tried to form a cohesive thought it seemed to fade before it could really form. I considered the ways in which I interacted with what I felt was my community – the good and the not so great. I wanted to honor her no nonsense approach to the discussion; this should be an honest exercise instead of a sales pitch. I began sifting through memories trying to pull out moments of community and I realized that there had been a definite shift in my awareness of my place within community – a moment, I should say, in which I became aware that I was truly PART of a community. I finally had my answer. I read the article and, while a respected the author’s raw look at her place in community along with all the complications and successes, I understand community in a very simple sense. Community is WORK. Within every interaction there is an exchange of energy and resources, and it is that exchange that is the life force of a community. It’s so hard to nail down what a community is because it is a living, breathing THING and we are the busy little parts that keep this creature going. So, with that I began to form new questions – what is my work? What do I represent? I had fun with this and acknowledged I would definitely be the stomach, or maybe the mouth – Lord knows I love to eat and talk!
I felt like that answer managed to hold the complexity of community. There are times when I am so frustrated and even angry about a person’s behavior or how events transpired within my own community, but instead of feeling like I am on the outside looking in, that is a moment in which I need to ask – what is my WORK? What do I represent? It’s easier said than done on most days, but it helps to know that “those” people are “my” people because we are all parts of the same creature; and if I want this creature to keep going it is up to me to do my work.
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