What makes a community grow? I think there are many ingredients such as commitment to sharing and compassion for our neighbours. Also inclusiveness in terms of looking beneath our exteriors, noticing when somebody or families are left out. Being real and setting up ways in which everyone can come together and have fun but also come together and talk about the deep stuff, the things which concern us from time to time. It is these concerns whcih get overlooked and grow into something bigger than what is really there that affect us the most at any level.
We need to be brave and speak out when we see injustices but we also need to be aware of being incensitive and negative towards our friends in order to justify our own feelings of overwhelm or inadequacy around difficult topics and situations. Most of all, we need to keep the door open, both figuritively and realistically. Have many entry points so that people can come and go and return in ways which make it easy for them when they are ready and need to. We can't always get it right in our expression or our responses or our actions no matter how hard we try, but we can remain humble and be willing to listen when someone in our community needs us and needs us to take care. Care and kindness are the way through most patches and offer the most creative solutions. I am grateful for my brave friends that come back for me and chose not to leave me behind when things get tricky or I get distracted.
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