How has your community suffered over the last year?

[Irwin Fletcher]

I've been thinking a lot about the way our communities have been damaged socially over the last year. Yesterday, I spent some time working on an article about this: No Community
I would be happy to hear feedback from this community.

Here is the introduction:

This is not a post primarily about Covid, lockdowns and political decisions. It is a post about the impact of those decisions and others on a society. One definition of a society is “The totality of people regarded as forming a community of interdependent individuals.” There are a couple of key words in that definition, interdependent and community. Both of these are logical if you are going to function as a true society. While every individual isn’t interdependent with every other individual, to live in society does mean you have a degree of interdependence on some other people in that society.

The other word is community, and that is probably the more important word for the development of a healthy society. It is also a part of God’s plan for His followers. We were created by God to live in community, hopefully a healthy community in which we are able to practice the New Testament “one another” commands as a part of that community. Through this, we are able to more capably follow Christ by challenging one another and “spurring one another on in love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10:24)

Personally, I can testify of the benefit I have received from having people involved in my life, both through the Church and through my local community, neighborhood or in the Greek oikos. I am more healthy, happier and better able to function as I regularly interact with people. Our society has shifted a great deal of community interaction to the digital realm and I have found this is okay, but not a 100% replacement for in person interaction. It is better for some people than it is for others.

 

[Rita]

The past year has been challenging in new ways, I can’t say that locally I have seen many changes with my own interactions, but I have seen many reach out to those in need. This was evident when we first went into lockdown and it all was just so new and unexpected. Through social media people connected , shared, supported and enabled others to not feel so alone as they isolated. For me ‘ my work community ‘ did change. We had to work through new challenges within the care home, new rules, new routines. We had to pull together in ways that we had not done before. It wasn’t just physically supporting one another, but also mentally and emotionally. When covid hit the home it was a roller coaster ride that impacted us on shift and when we got home, it had a rippling effect. We had to learn to be vulnerable, but I believe much good was reaped by that. Over in the U.K. every Thursday evening we would go out side at 8:00 and make a noise and clap for all the key workers, that was throughout the country, we all United to encourage - that was over whelming. We came together, despite all the differing views , outlooks , we all had a common goal.

Shame that didn’t reach elsewhere .........well forums are communities as well !
Rita

 

[Pearl]

I haven't seen much change locally but apart from getting my jabs I've not been out since last March. I have noticed that there are a lot more people taking advantage of our local park and neighbours have offered help. And yesterday when I went in town to the doctors things seemed to be normal but I didn't get to go to the shopping centre. One things that had changed was the Octagon Theatre which was in the middle of a rebuild last time I saw it but yesterday it was completed and looked really good. Some people have become more selfish (panic buying is one example), some more aggressive and demanding whilst yet others have gone the extra mile to help those who are vulnerable. There has been a lot of personal effort all over the country to supply food, cheer people up and be neighbourly.