12/18/2023 0 Comments Time out communitiesThe new light, the morning hymn, and the momentary connection with other travelers evoked images from other communities. Without speaking a word, it was clear we were enchanted by the gift of their song, and we joined together briefly in a community of celebration for the gifts of Nature. As I stood listening to him and his mate in a nearby tree serenading each other, a couple walking their dog joined me. In the silence of an early morning walk recently, the crystal song of a scarlet red cardinal atop an oak tree awakened me more fully. Alan O’Hare, Schenachie (Celtic Storyteller) and Director Life Story Theatre It is because we are both human beings, and I am part of a global community. I need to be reminded that when I form a connection with someone based on common experience, it is not because that someone is from Sudbury. I need to be reminded that, while I give to my community, other communities are no less deserving. I need to go to these places to remind myself that this way of life I am used to is not the only way or the best way. While I work to give back to my community, I also need to spend some time away from Sudbury, to know what life is like in Bolivia, in the American South, or in Roxbury, the inner city neighborhood where the Food Project does a lot of its work. I am a member of the Sudbury community, an affluent suburb of Boston. A community that is safe, comfortable, and trusting can be so enticing that individuals can forget about the world outside of their community, or regard other communities with subtle prejudices. A community is a safe place.īut there is something potentially dangerous about communities. Something that, when shared, makes individuals seem less lonely. While most people need to be part of a community for life’s necessities, most people want to be part of a community because there is something indescribably lovely about being a part of a group of people who share something more substantial than geographical location. The necessities of life rarely come from one’s own hands, but rather from a complicated “web of mutuality,” as Martin Luther King, Jr. Most people in today’s world rely on a community for practical purposes. Sarah Michelson, Teen Intern with The Food ProjectĬurrent Program Involvement: Building Local Agricultural Systems Today (BLAST) For me, the community is where one finds the balance between physical and mental fitness. When things are not going well in one community, we have the option to move to another. Community is where we find comfort in difficult times. We are all members of many communities (family, work, neighborhood, etc.), and we constantly move in and out of them, depending on the situation. Communities are also rich in resources, that is where their collective aspect comes into play. As human beings, we need a sense of belonging, and that sense of belonging is what connects us to the many relationships we develop. A community is a familiar thread used to bring people together to advocate and support each other in the fight to overcome those threats. In the field of Public Health, we see community as a group of folks that are at risk of being infected or affected by certain types of diseases based on their demographic, social, and economic status. Just as denoted by the root and the suffix of the word (common-unity), a certain segment of the population is united by a familiar thread. The element that links them together is at the core, and is the essence of the group. To me a community is a group of individuals connected to each other by one or more attribute(s). Latin American Health Institute, Boston, Massachusetts Zamor, Executive Director, Professional Services Division In 2005, the Center asked several people whose work involves community building this simple question, and got some not-so-simple answers.
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