Harnessing The Power Of Community

When I was growing up, during the early days of my primary education, there was a day I came back from school and my mum told me to come that she wanted to teach me certain things about life. When I came close, she handed over a stick of broom to me and asked me to break it. Well, I did not have any difficulty with it, so I broke it into pieces. Then she handed over 10 broomsticks and asked me to break it. I did, but it was not as easy as just 1. She kept increasing the quantity of the broomsticks and it became more difficult to break, until she gave me a whole bunch of broom to break and it was impossible to break. She turned to me and said "this is the power of community." These words stuck into my head and I kept remembering it. We are part of a community that should be valued

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From the narration of the broom I gave earlier, you will understand one thing, the power of community can provide strength, sense of belonging, and support in ways that you cannot even imagine. However, you have to also understand that community is not just a group of people geographically bounded in one place, but more like a group or network of people who share common value, and who come together to support each other. Of course, if a broomstick pairs with pieces of rods, it will not form a bunch. So a broomstick will have to pair with other sticks of broom to create a bunch. So a community that will have impact is one in which the individuals shared a common value and help to uplift each other.

Over the years, I have come to understand that a very important benefit of community is the sense of belonging that it creates. If you have observed, you will notice that you have a better purpose of living when you have people to call your own than if you are alone. In this world and at this point in time, many people have gotten so busy with other things that they tend to abandon the core demands of humankind as a social being. No wonder a lot of people are now cut off from the real world and are now faced with isolation. This is why community is very important. Being part of a community can create that feeling of acceptance and acceptability, which will make you still have the purpose of living.

I remember a time many years ago when, because of some situations, I found myself in a state of isolation and loneliness crept in. In fact, it was a very challenging phase of my life, as I was almost going into depression. I lost touch of the real world and was introverted inwards. It happened so fast that I did not expect something like that. Then I had to talk to someone I could trust about it and from the advice he gave me, I understood that I needed friendship, relationship with people, and a community. When I started with it, I was surprised how I got better. In fact, the value we shared, the experiences, etc, meant a lot to me and it created a sense of belonging for me. It was after then that I understood that loneliness is among the worse forms of challenges.

Another benefit of community, which should be harnessed, is that it makes for effective growth and development. The truth is that you tend to grow better when you are part of the people growing too, than when you are all alone by yourself. When you come in contact with people and interact with them, you will be exposed to their own perspective about life and will learn a couple of new things. In fact, you tend to acquire new experiences, get new ideas, understand the world better, and have a different view of life. This is the reason you need a good community. A community can serve as a team, whereby everyone achieves more through collaborative efforts.

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In addition to learning new things, you can also acquire new skills when you are in the community of people who possess such skills. When you walk in the company of the wise people, you are also expected to exhibit elements of wisdom. When you stay with people that possess certain skills, it will not be long and your interest will begin to go into that skill and you will acquire it. This is why you need to be in the company and community of people that will add positively to your life, so that you can effectively harness the benefits of being part of a community.

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