Community

A friend posted a graphic on Facebook today, it was one of those awareness types of posts for people with special needs. I agree with the spirit of his one comment in that we all have special needs. They could be severe needs that are life threatening, or mild needs that can be easily taken care of. Each one of us has needs that, with the help of others, can be lessened.

An African proverb that Hillary Clinton shared was "it takes a village to raise a child", unfortunately because of her political aspirations, this concept has been attacked. This concept is not unique to Africa and is how most people born before the 90s were raised. You knew your neighbor, you had no fear of letting your children go out to play, if something happened, you knew that there was someone who would be there to help. The special needs child was not a source of ridicule, or someone else's problem, but a person who was part of your life.

People ask "What went wrong with America?", maybe it is the loss of community that we once felt, but if you look around, that community is still here. To some it is online, like Facebook, Google+, or Twitter. To some it is offline, like Little League, or PTA, or the local bar, or the church. If you need help there is someone who you know that can help. In business, that is known as networking, in life it is known as community.

A community is not only where you are, but who you know. Everyone is there for a reason, some are there for more practical reasons, some are there just to make you smile, or for comic relief, some are there to be antagonists to make you stronger. Your community is probably larger then you realize. Maybe if we embraced our community again, and even spread it, we would make America strong again, and remove the feeling of fear and distrust we have enveloped ourselves with.