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:
Everyday I thank God and life for having a roof on top on my head , good health that allows me to work and study, food that I can share ,and a loving family that supports me. Without all these blessing, I would be like many others that unfortunately live without the privileges that I have today. The multiple acts of kindness from my neighbors were the first of many benevolent acts that I’ve witnessed throughout my life. As a result, I’ve reprocreated their altruistic actions by serving others.
A community is a place where people around supposed to be able to live and thrive together. When one thinks of a community, the image that most likely is visualized is one of a place where each person lives harmoniously with all the other members of that community. While this may be the typical image of a community, it is not the realistic view. In reality communities can share both good and bad aspects. In Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-First Century Peter Dreier, John Mollenkopf, and Todd Swanstrom make the argument that the place a person lives ultimately matters over all else; the place which a person lives effects the choices that that he/she makes and determines his/her ability to obtain a
Similarly, life without any sense of individualism and no self-success stories is not what is best for humankind and the community and that is defined as indifference. What is indifference? “A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil” (Wiesel 5). Simple indifference can ruin any relationship, including a community. If a community remains committed to success and the individuals included in the community are committed to succeeding on both a personal and global level, the community and humankind can flourish. Commitment and communication are the key ingredients to the survival of the community. Comparably the same thing can be said for individuals.
Communities play an essential role in the development of the self and learning about the stranger. Through communities, individuals are able to socialize and gain a greater understanding of each other. A community can be defined in many different ways based on every individual’s experience with it. Developing a strong community takes time. Some people, like Jeannette Walls, do not have the opportunity to develop strong communities throughout their childhood.
First, community is our “home.” We have been living in a community ever since we were just little babies and it has always influenced us. Communities have played a big part in who we are today. We start off in school not knowing anyone or anything and as you get older you begin to think about the
There was one man I talked to in particular that sticks out in my mind. And we didn’t even deliver to him. When we first got to IU Medical Center, we had to wait about 30 minutes for the food to be brought to us. While we waited, a man about 75 years old started talking to us. He told us about how his wife had died eleven years ago and after she died, he started volunteering at Meals on Wheels every day for the past ten years. He explained that his wife had a disease that got so severe that she was put in an assisted living home. The particular assisted living home she was in had meals for her, but were expensive. So her husband found Meals on Wheels. The couple got themselves each two meals a day and had lunch and dinner together every day. After the man’s wife died, he started delivering the meals to people who are not healthy and able to get out and go shopping for meals. This man was such a sweet man. This man is doing something that Jesus would have done. Even at his old age, he still takes time every day to help somebody else out besides himself, someone less fortunate and unable. This man sacrifices at least three hours a day delivering meals to people that he would not have known otherwise. This man made an impact on my life. He showed me that even when we think we are
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.
I charge you to be a spiritual community of love. You should also be a community where care and compassion abound. The ministry of care and compassion is not simply the job description of the pastor. It is the job description of this entire church. In Galatians 6:2, the Apostle Paul instructs us to “bear one another’s burdens, and in this way… fulfill the law of Christ.” In addition to caring for and showing compassion to one another, never become so insular that you fail to impact the lives of those outside the church who have no advocate, are mired in hopelessness and ravaged by injustice. Be known as a friendly church and a community church.
Caring is showing that you’re willing to help anyone with any chance you have. I value caring a lot, if the world could care about one another
A few days ago I was talking to some of my friends, and one of them just needed to talk so I sat down with her and just let her rant about anything she wanted and after that she let me talk and say what I felt about the situation. I helped her through that but two days before that I was having the worst day of my life. Not many of my friends cared that I was hurting and still to this day i’m hurting nonstop. At this point in my life I helped others who needed help instead of helping myself when I need it. I care for others to much that it hurts me more than I know. But me caring for others helps them and that’s all that matters. The character Mary Newbary in the Witch Child and Marin from “Geraldo No Last Name” show caring because they both show concern for the other characters in both books.
Christmas of 2016, I met a family with four children who were not going to be able to have a Christmas that year. My heart broke for this desperate family. The Father suddenly left the wife and kids three months before Christmas. The mother was no longer able to give her children a Christmas, and she did not know how to break it to the kids. A couple of days before Christmas, my family and I sent gifts for each family member and five-hundred dollars for her child support. Earlier in the winter, I also raised even more money for them to spend on groceries, textbooks, school supplies, etc. The family could not stop thanking us for saving their
I have been blessed beyond measure in my life with the love and support of my family. It is because of that love and support that I feel a strong obligation to be the best person I can be by working hard and caring about the world around me. Through my volunteer work, I have participated in many fundraisers, food and clothing drives. However, my greatest personal growth has come from more direct acts of kindness that go largely unrecognized to anyone other than the recipient. My first experience meeting someone in very unfortunate circumstances occurred when my mother suggested we deliver meals for an Atlanta based organization called Open Hands. Open Hands prepares individualized healthy meals for very ill people living on their own. Open Hands conducted training on a
I wasn’t aware of the importance of doing good for others, until recently that I witnessed it with my own eyes. It all started when was at Chicago, a random man helped out a homeless man and bought him some food. I noticed as I was in line that the cashier then gave the helping man a free choice to pick something he wanted due to the action he did. After that day I began to make an attempt at helping out more and being a better person in general.
All over the world, there is a cry, a cry for leadership, a cry for survival, a cry for justice, a cry for love. Furthermore, every community in the world is in need of something, whether it’s basic needs like food and shelter, or if it’s something deeper than simply physical existence. Surprisingly, even well-off communities suffer as people waste their lives away in selfishness and pleasure, only to discover that it only leaves a gaping hole in their heart. Our technological world today is more connected than ever before, but there’s little trust or genuine care. Sadly, the essential humanness which connects and defines us is slowly