Jeff Shnurr

Paul Ryan once said, “Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together.” We do not often realize how important it is for everybody to work together to achieve a goal. A community is a group of individual people gathered together to form a whole, like a school, local church, government entity, non-profit organization, sport team, etc. This whole can make reference to a discourse community.

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 development involves changing the relationships between ordinary people and people in positions of power, so that everyone can take part in the issues that affect their lives. It starts from the principle that within any community there is a wealth of knowledge and experience which, if used in creative ways, can be channeled into collective action to achieve the communities' desired goals.

The first one being that the community is like a place that provides order, traditions and certain rules. For example when we are at a family reunion and its like rule to always say hello to your elders first, or that when you are about to hit the piñata the little ones go first, or something much simpler like the sitting place of each family member at the dinning table.

How do we know when communication has served to strengthen relationships between people and expand individual viewpoints? When does communication reach beyond individual goals to promote and develop a sense of community? We can attempt to answer questions like these by exploring Martin Buber’s theory of Dialogue.

A community provides a web of support for every individual involved in it. This theme is heavily present in The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, where there are a series of symbiotic relationships that make up a web of support for each and every person. The most obvious example is Taylor, the main character, and how she gives and receives help from Lou Ann, Mattie, Esperanza, Estevan, and even Turtle. Yet, it can also be seen between Edna and Virgie Mae, and between Mattie and her refugees. Involvement in the community is a necessary component of life for the individual.

Aldo Leopold and Schaeffer have both been key contributors to my beliefs and opinions and they have helped me shape my own personal land ethic. In Leopold’s essay titled The Land Ethic he makes several great points. Among these I have found the community concept, substitutes for a land ethic and the future outlook to be the most important. Leopold states, “All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts”(p.2). As humans we have a job and typically we show care for the things that we really like and enjoy. But a question we need to ask ourselves is who do we love and what do we care about? We live in community with everything around us including the plants, and all

A strong and productive society requires a collaboration of efforts from both leaders and individuals, all working together to improve the community as a whole. For hundred of years, philosophers have encouraged this through pieces such as: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which through the tale of three prisoners in a cave encourages everyone to be open to a wide range of differing realities, Cicero’s piece “Duties of the Individual to the State,” that goes through the natural duties of the individuals in a society, and Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” that explain the manners, expectations, and roles necessary for one to successfully lead people. Through these elements philosophers have deemed necessary for a community, strong foundations for thriving

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.

Striving to be more than just a spectator in the human experience, I seek opportunities to practice collaboration and consensus building, while advancing a more equitable and democratic society. The human community needs to foster dynamic partnerships and explore emerging opportunities that can assist in advancing a civil society that supports our global environment.

The city of Ottawa has a population of approximately one million people. Although the city is made up of culturally different people, we are all one big community. A great definition of a society came from William Little, “A society is a group of people whose members interact, reside in a definable area, and share a culture.” (Little et al, 2014, p. 3). Every day, people interact with others, hundreds of times a day.

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.

In “The Abundant Community,” both authors John McKnight and Peter Block discuss their ideas on “the citizen way” of life, and the downfalls of “the consumer way,” and how to avoid them. For instance, the authors believe in the goodness that is “the citizen way,” and that if we learned to trust in our neighbors we could build a strong community that can provide security. As well as, obtaining a better income by talking to people in one’s community about future employment. However, if we continue to depend on “the consumer way” we as a community will live an unsatisfied and disconnected life. We are so advanced in technology that we are able to obtain almost anything from the comfort of our own homes, which limits social interaction. Moreover,

Small communities may not grow rapidly in size, but they do share ideals and grow with each other throughout

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.