Last week, at a farewell for a co-worker, a piece of writing by Wendell Berry was shared,
“A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other’s lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves.”
As a struggler to understand, yet lover of, community, the words took root in my heart that evening, and all weekend long.
I love the haphazard connection of unique and different individuals that community brings.
We do not share the same education, politics, experiences, dreams or habits,
yet, the commonality of shared time and space bring us together as if for a cosmic scientific experiment.
This is community.
And community is what we find on the streets we live, at our places or work or school, in the churches we attend, in the activities we participate.
Our communities are in great need of scientists, of business people, of entrepreneurs, but also we need poets, mothers, bricklayers, comedians and theologians for community to be filled, to be fulfilled.
Our communities are not perfect. They are clusters of humans, doing their own thing, with petite and profound effect on all who we share this time and space.
Community is where we find a space, a place to belong. For those of a certain generation, community is a Cheers, experience …
a place where everyone (others) know your name.
Today ends a school year for myself, and my colleagues. The end of this community, as we knew it to be, this school year. You see, for the school employee, community changes every year, for a group of students graduate (or move on to another school) and staff also move on, to other jobs, retirement, etc.
When we all return (or turn up, as the case may be) at the end of summer, a new community is birthed, with the blessings and struggles that anything new may bring.
So, for now we bid farewell to the school community of 2016/17, and await the new one in which we will share life, where everyone will know your name.
itsawonderfilledlife 