I'm sure you've come across the story about
the four characters - Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done, and it was the responsibility
of Everybody to do it. Now, Everybody was sure Somebody would
do it. Anybody could have done it but Nobody did it! In the end
Everybody blamed Somebody because Nobody did what Anybody could
have done.
It's a clever, amusing little story, and all too true to life.
It's a perfect blueprint of what tends to go wrong in Community
living, namely the failure to acknowledge, much less implement
a responsibility that everyone shares. The obligation to contribute
to the quality of Community is real, but because it is diffuse,
it can be ignored or side-stepped or simply denied.
You often hear it
said in regard to marriage or one-to-one relationships: "You
have to work at them " or "There has to be give and
take " or "The more you give, the more you 'll get"!
The complex inter-relationship of Community living will all the
more require this "work" and this " give and take"!
Community doesn't just happen. It needs a lot of input to make
it happen: leadership, imagination, commitment, a variety of
talents, lots of hard work - all of which implies the involvement
of many, many people. Strong forces of destruction are always
around to pull a Community apart - such is human nature, and
these have to be patiently and determinedly overcome. Then there
has to be the equally patient and generally slow work of planting
seeds and nurturing them towards growth. But the work is fulfilling
and rewarding. And necessary, for Community can play as big a
part as family in the forming of the young.
And so, creating Community is truly Everybody's responsibility.
Are you leaving it to Somebody else? Nobody may do it!
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