My Quest for Community

The time I have spent finding the right passage, the perfect chapter or the best article to correctly highlight and express what I hope to see in our local community has not been in vain. It has been comforting and empowering, but not necessarily successful.

            Over and over again I am reading about the importance of community. The brilliance in surrounding yourself with a support system to lean into and lean on, not to mention the essential need our souls have to be accepted and belong to something larger than themselves. All of this is true and rings true in my heart and makes sense in my brain, but yet, falls just shy of truly describing what I see is a huge gaping hole in our local community. We have churches, sports clubs, self-help groups and families in which we have the opportunity to connect in a meaningful way. The smaller groups where we can be seen and understood by our hearts and our intentions and love for one another are essential to what I call “everyone’s desire to be known.” These smaller groups are priceless and serve a huge purpose in providing each person a place to belong. Definitely an asset to individuals, but leaves something to be desired in a larger setting.

            Our local community is tough to draw boundaries around. We can claim physical boundaries, sports team affiliations or even our broader political views. In examining the struggles in our society, I see division, anger, fear, and isolation leading the way. How do we find our way and how do we begin to patch the holes that have been created? I don’t know. In all honesty, I am keenly aware that I do not have all the answers. I can, however, articulate why I believe starting with our schools is our best chance.

            Our schools cut across all platforms (religion, politics, socio-economic status, race, gender and more), yet our children unite us all. They are the common ground that brings us all together. What better place to build a community that has recently been shaken up by the transition from a small elementary school population to a larger community of strangers.  Friendships for our children are fluctuating as are our parent/parent friendships. We need to lead the way for our teens. Unite across different ideals with the common goal of raising well-adjusted, independent and sturdy adults.