Communities are relationships.
We have a tendency not to think of communities that way, because of the corporate identity that they assume (or inherit, willingly or unwillingly), but it’s simple: Communities, just like relationships, require communication. And communication that’s sincere and honest requires trust.
Do we trust our communities?
Do we trust each other in our communities?
Do we trust ourselves?
These are questions we must ask, because if we are ever to make changes in our communities, in the communal relationships in which we are established, willfully or not, we must see ourselves as brothers and sisters and be keepers.
And keepers keep in touch. Keepers communicate.
In the world we’re in today, in the country that Americans inhabit, we’ve seen how divisiveness based on hate, fear, indifference, and at the very least, disinterest, has created and continued a legacy of maladies which we are now having to address in legislation.
We’ve borne witness to countless murders, pain and suffering of all sorts, and freedom ringing in such a way that our own ears ring daily with messages of aggression, pride, and assumptions. We have allowed ourselves to be deaf to our partners, our neighbors.
When you listen to your partner, your spouse, you do so because you feel tied to the words, thoughts, and feelings of that person, and you probably desire to make known that he or she is valued and heard. You want to address that person with the sensitivity and respect that he or she merits, out of love.
Why can’t we address each other with a humane respect and love that we need to survive and thrive in our world, our country, our communities? Why must we continue to persist that we are better when we keep our heads down and our ears plugged to the needs of our neighbors?
It’s more than just mailing off a check to the March of Dimes or Shriners when they send an appeal -- those are great causes, but we must show empathy for each other, person to person, spirit to spirit, heart to heart, day by day. It's far greater than an offering sent in a self-addressed envelope.
Do we care about ourselves? Do we? Because if we do, we’d know that caring for ourselves is much easier when we keep the cares of our neighbors close to us, looking to bear each other’s burdens and being open to the needs of those who live among us.
It’s prayer, it’s earnest search for education and knowledge about our communities, it’s a willingness to see the world from other perspectives, it’s a desire to see the humanity in those who may seem a world away. It’s about loving ourselves well enough to understand that when we are enlightened about one another, we can better serve one another.
Life is service, love is sincere, and preferred service — sincere service — is about selflessness. And relationships of all kinds only work when we prefer the other in them, because that is a demonstration of love. Love demonstrates trust, love keeps others, love communicates the sincere intentions of the heart and manifests them.
So, the real question becomes not do we care about ourselves, but do we love ourselves enough to demonstrably care for one another?
Do we?
Sandy Dover for Think Tank, Inc. — to learn more about Think Tank, please visit thinktank-inc.org