Community
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Back in the dim mists of time, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I attended a Christian college. The college president was pretty theologically liberal, but was hugely effective at running the school.
His secret weapon? Community. We were a community of believers, a community of students, a community of younger and older people moving through a stage of life together.
Some tactics to focus on community...
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Common Core curriculum. There were certain classes we all took, whether you were a jock, a music major or a pre-med. You took the usual English classes, etc., but you had Critical Thought, Faith & Human Values, a Dr. Cooper based aerobics class, an arts appreciation class...Stuff that ran the gamut from examination of Judeo-Christian values to Renoir and Bach, to running together until our collective tongues hung out.
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The office swing. Dr. L had an eight-foot swing built and hung it from a welded pipe frame in the college commons. Mounted on the frame was a sign that read President's Office. Unless it was pouring rain or twenty degrees, you'd find our college president sitting on his swing, reading through some papers or a book. Any student was welcome to sit down and talk with the president, as long as you didn't monopolize his time.
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The emphasis was on professors who could teach, not publish. Don't get me wrong, we had some guys on campus with decent stacks of articles, but they were hired to teach. And to listen and help. Every student had a faculty advisor that he was mandated to meet with at least three times per semester. Every professor had posted office hours and his office was open to students.
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Mandatory Chapel. Every Tuesday, 11AM, the student body met. About the only way out of chapel was by physician's note or if the building was on fire. Wasn't always overtly religious. It might be a one&act play, a choir presentation, a featured speaker (Jimmy Carter, etc) or it might be a sermon. Whatever it was, we all enjoyed or suffered together.
The point of all this blather? Seems like we as a society are losing our sense of community, both locally and nationally. There are things we can do, but it takes concern and effort.
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
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The point of all this blather? Seems like we as a society are losing our sense of community, both locally and nationally. There are things we can do, but it takes concern and effort.
You want to take a fun, deep dive into that very topic, then I highly recommend reading Bowling Alone or The Vanishing Neighbor. Both are great.
Choice, convenience and expediency have always come at the expense of community, meaning and a sense of accomplishment. It just didn't matter so much. Sure I could build my own furniture but just let me visit a store, thanks.
Much like cocaine, we've hit an inflection point with this compromise. We're now sacrificing a lot of humanity for the sake of choice, convenience and expediency.
For example, when Spotify first came out, it seemed extraordinary. “All those songs in my pocket? Hell yes, sign me up!”
The ads didn't tell me that my friends and I would no longer be swapping albums like we did with tapes and CDs. That my car’s cupholder would now house a nondescript metal card instead of physical artifacts of my musical education. That oh by the way, my friends would no longer sit beside me, picking up those tapes and CDs to talk to me about them because we both have Facebook now and don't hang out anymore. That I’d stop going to music stores because why bother. That Spotify would put those stores out of business. That Spotify would work on leveraging AI against musicians to put them out of business, too.
I'm a bit fucking done with all of it. For the past year I've started to become a lot more deliberate about community, connections and doing things in the real. I'm still very much working on getting better at it.
