COMMUNITY

I have many visions.  The inspiration of these visions, I believe, is my desire to be the best person I can be.  The more I contemplate who my best version is the more my mind rests on my best version being an individual who is free.  I suppose that sometime in the future I will go through the mentally taxing work of defining what freedom is to me, but for now I want to write a bit on community and a vision I had on building community in a society that is increasingly distant.

I am speaking in generalities here and I know that everyone’s experiences are different, but as a whole Americans’ lives are easy and free from historical difficulties.  The vast majority of us do not go hungry, we have shelter, clothing, medical care etc.  However, for some reason, that I will let more learned and intelligent people debate, we have lost a shared purpose that is found in intact communities.

My vision is to create a community that is driven by a shared purpose.  In my vision that purpose is creating an individual sense of freedom through service to others.  I see an organized group that builds cohesiveness through service.  To be a member of this community each individual would volunteer at least once a week on their own in pursuit of whatever opportunity they desire and also participate in an organized community service event to be held at the same time each week.  

The Freedom Through Service community would have leadership that would organize the weekly events and pick a volunteer opportunity for the community members to serve.  On the appointed time the members would gather, give their time, and energy.  At the conclusion of the event a meal would be shared to give members the opportunity to eat together, create relationships, and develop cohesiveness.  

How this vision becomes a reality is still being worked out in my mind.  There are many steps in a goal to create such a community.  Each step is an obstacle in the way of achieving this goal, but we learned yesterday the Obstacle Becomes the Way.