Comparing Rebekah's Essay 'Individual And Community'

Every person deserves the right to experience a sense of community amongst people who share a common characteristic. A sense of fellowship amongst similar people allows a person to become more comfortable with who they are through interactions with others who are going through—or have gone through—the same triumphs or hardships. Without this feeling of belonging, one could be driven into insanity. Anxiety due to isolation and desolation could run rampant through a person’s mind because of the loneliness that comes with a lack of community—making it an essential part of a humanhood. By definition however, community invites inimitability. Community can be defined as a group of unique individuals with shared characteristics. From that a

In the book Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman there are many different characters, and even some of them cross paths. A community garden was started in Cleveland Ohio just by one person therefore everyone follows. They all learn how to get along with other people, how to not stereotype so much, and how to depend on each other in their community. All of them struggle with something, whether it's with family, friends, or feeling stereotyped. They learn the importance of a community, and realize how much they really depend on each other. Seedfolks shows that having a community is important for all people to incorporate diversity, culture,and unique stories into their lives. You don't realize how much people depend on their community until its gone. The importance of a community is shown through the characters and shown by how they act, what they say, overall how they are perceived by other people.

Community is the difference between being and belonging. It is just too easy to just be a part of a group, but to feel like you belong to the group is far more meaningful. You can go to the meetings and know everyone’s names but none of that means anything if you don’t feel that you are a significant component in a group. To be a part of a community means that you are a part of group where inclusion, support and friendship are highly-regarded. The beauty about community is that everyone has their own gifts, talents, opinions and experiences to offer to it, therefore making each member valuable. As a Resident Assistant, I intend to create an inclusive community in which each person is accepted and encouraged regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual-orientation or ability. By promoting diversity in my community, I hope that everyone gains a sense of belonging. In my community, I will have an open mind and tolerant attitude and will encourage my residents to do the same. Because understanding that no two residents are the same, I will conduct myself through equity. I will try to learn about my residents individually so if

A feeling of affiliation with community and strong interaction with all of its members serve as the basis of the peculiarity of Black community. Membership of community has been always more important to African Americans than the feeling of individualism and competition among its members. Jagers and Mock (1995) have talked about Afro-cultural communalism. This communalism is the tendency of African Americans toward collectivist orientation or the preference for interdependence among people. Students who are driven by this communalistic orientation cannot describe themselves in individualistic terms. In fact, much of their self-identity is grounded in their social concern for, and need to be with, others [3]. Being a member of community young African Americans always relate themselves to it, because as it has been mentioned above, individualism is not a characteristic feature of Black community.

A man walks into a bar and begins to converse with a local—the man is not from the area. Intrigued by the unfamiliar face, the first thing the local asks is: “where are you from?” Instead of asking for the travelers name, he seeks to identify a larger organization. These simple conversations display the tendency for humans to associate with groups. Democrat or Republican, lower, middle, or upper-class, family, education, ancestry, these communal affiliations are what define an individual. Governments are run by a community of people, and those that are not often collapse, as displayed by many failed dictatorships and monarchies. Even the most intimate component of a human, the mind, is divided into a community of different selves, as explored in the article “First Person Plural” by Paul Bloom. As demonstrated by Edna Pontellier in The Awakening, the rule of one body or persona is neither permanent nor healthy, regardless of the setting; true success comes from a conglomerate of distinct perspectives with a mutual goal in both a governmental and personal setting.

We don’t value community since we don’t make decisions for the whole group we make them for ourselves only. In our jobs we only do what will lead us to a higher paying position, and if our position is in jeopardy we will do what ever it takes to keep it even if it means going against co-workers. This leads many people to ask the question “do I act selfishly or do I cooperate?” (Innes 2) The ways in which we raise our children has a significant affect on how they will act. If they put themselves before others constantly and think only of their own benefits, it can make them become a selfish person which will lead them to be seen as an outcast by our society. In “Behind Grandma’s House” Gary Soto shows us this when he tells us:

Community and diversity are two of the most prominent factors colleges and universities use to attract students. At Temple University, it is easy to see that the school tries hard to implement these words into our heads whether it be succeeding or failing in reality. Temple makes it known in their mission statement, policies, and standing proof that they surely uphold the title as being one of the most diverse schools in the nation. However, after reading the chapter about Rebekah Nathan’s experience in My Freshman Year, I recognized her assessment among freshman is similar to that of my own granted it had not been completely

Community is built of two main elements. First, community requires communal caring. Members need to put themselves in positions where they are able to relate to other members and does everything “within reasonable limits of self-sacrifice” (65). The second is communal reciprocity. Individuals will serve other members of the community, not for exchange of goods, but to provide generosity and support. These elements of community appear in the lives of all individuals, even the most capitalist ones. Humans are entirely capable of these.

Living in community will expose selfishness, ambition, jealousy, dissension and impurity in ourselves, allowing us to experience loss, despair, and stress. Even so, all of this is important to our spiritual formation because we mature as Christians,

Conflicts create obstacles that lead to one’s fulfillment in life. One of many factors that helps the individual to overcome challenges is the members of the community. By providing guidance, resources, and emotional support, communities can give an individual with the strength to overcome challenges. We can examine this in Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See” and Jonathan Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

The problem with insisting on common worldwide standards is that local customs in foreign cultures may be trampled

It is imperative that these same principles are utilized when communicating to cultural groups other than our own because people from different cultures encode and decode messages and meaning differently. Because of this, what is acceptable to one is not necessarily acceptable by the other especially if they base their practices on their own judgments and ideas and communicate disregarding the judgments and ideas of any other culture. Ignorance can lead to devastating and damaging assumptions in terms of building intercultural relationships when one enters communication using the same old ethnocentric approach. It is a lot like the Nazis viewing the world according to their standards and beliefs without regards to the rights and beliefs of any other group. It is also the same as extreme

Rebekah Nathan’s central significant point writes to us that international students saw individualism and independence in various places such as dorm rooms, students’ home and social life around the campuses. She related that in America, “there's much more independence here”. At home, students live with their parents. Here families aren't tangled together and they call their parents, perhaps once a week” and the “international students generally saw family as more naturally integrated into their social life when you're not near your family”. Additionally, She inscribes “”Oh, I like you so much”, they say. But then if I’m in trouble, it’s “Oh, I’m so sorry for you”, “So sorry for you”, doesn’t help” She inscribes about how in America, the U.S.

In Charles Derber’s “The Good Man Fills His Own Stomach,” Derber refers to two very different communities. One is the Ik who lived in Uganda and were described as “unfortunate people expelled by an uncaring government.” The other, was an imaginary community from the Woody Allen movie Crimes and Misdemeanors. This community seemed to resemble a community from our present day upper class with only the best hotels, restaurants, and symphonic recordings. Although these two groups are very different, they each still follow the criterion of a community. Each are groups of people who have formed a sort of bond with each other because of a certain lifestyle, interests, or beliefs.

A community is established when more than two people share the same values and through time this personal connection evolves into a fellowship governed by rituals, traditions, and a particular form of communication that when taken together makes a group of individuals whether living in a specific geographical area or connected by ideals so distinct that their distinguishing marks allow them to stand out from among the crowd. They do not just believe in something like an organization but they need each other to survive and thrive. A good example is the Old Order Amish Mennonite community wherein the community serves as source of identity, strength and provides the reason why they should sustain the community’s way of life.