Essays: Ideas on People Creating a Community....

The basis of community stems from people interacting with each other and forming relationships. A typical community is a neighbourhood of people who live in a municipality with access to schools, a recreation centre, a library, shopping, playing fields and/or parks as well as walking trails. People within the neighbourhood gather at these sites and form neighbourly relationships. They care about each other in times of need; they also celebrate each other's joyful times; they “keep an eye” on each other’s homes; they tend to their gardens, have conversations with each other on the street and some communities have neighbourhood block parties so all the neighbours can get together to socialize and become good neighbours and even become friends.

This kind of community spirit has evolved into our workplaces; some organizations espouse to being an organizational family; while others engage their employees in a comfortable yet efficient place of work where the employees can be productive and yet perform in a creative manner.

The above two scenarios are the ideals of community; in some instances these ideals are still practised but it appears that in other instances this kind of community spirit is waning. In both these scenarios, how can we continue to nurture the spirit of community to foster peaceful and harmonious relationships?

"There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about."

Margaret J. Wheatley
author of Turning to One Another,

Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009