HUMANITY HIKER

On the one hand people tend to conserve energy while on the other hand people want to belong.  The first impulse allows someone else to expend the energy necessary to get something done, while the second impulse leads one to expend their own energy in responsible contributions to feel like they belong.  We also tend to live up or down to expectations.  In a vibrant community expectations of responsibility are needed to bring out that second impulse in everyone.  Even in a community program designed to address need, their should be some expectations of the needy to contribute to the program in at least some small way.

Community networks are the same as social networks.  People extend what they are capable of doing by the people with whom they connect.  In theory, everyone in a vibrant community is connected; networking entails taking advantage of those connections to better administer and publicize a worthy community program.

The value of networking can be understood by looking at an opposite condition, heroism.  A person or an organization heroically assumes the burden alone for a worthy community program.  We’ve become a hero/idol driven society, but there are several problems with this in the context of community.  First, heroes can burn out or fall from grace, and the worthy community program the hero spearheaded suffers accordingly.  Second, heroism relieves the responsibility from all those who are not “heroes;” there becomes less ownership and buy-in from the community.  Third, less people will know what’s going on or get involved when the “good news” only emanates from once source.

I’ve already shared on here the most memorable quote from the ADT Journey.  The Director of the community meals program in Leaville, CO stated that their goal was to “confuse who is giving and who is receiving.”  Bringing people with the same beliefs and background together is nothing special, interest groups do it all the time.  The result can be something that caters wholly to the self-interests of the individual.  Ah, but when you can bring people together from different means, beliefs and backgrounds you have a spirit of oneness that is the very essence of community, people putting aside differences to make the very best of their common living situation.

Just as every individual is unique, so is every community.  Within the context of community there are different ways to pursue the Happiness and Health we all seek, with no one right way being universally the best.  One virtue of a natural community is devising self-sufficient solutions to the issues they face.  A self-sufficient community program is tailored to the unique experiences of the community.  They are void of the strings attached that might be connected with external benefactors such as federal programs or corporations.  They also call forth greater ownership and involvement by the community to be self-sufficient.  A self-sufficient community is both right, how a natural community is meant to behave to best survive, and good, providing the precise benefits that a community needs.