Close-knit, local communities are more than a strength.
They're a necessity.
Why else do you think we’ve been trained to mistrust our neighbors, move to big anonymous cities for a career, and avoid all agricultural knowledge and areas because “they’re poor and uneducated”?
Why else do you think the family has been broken up and kids are influenced by teachers who hate children and families?
Community is strength. Family is strength. Always has been. Locals help each other, everyone has their unique strengths, people know their worth and the worth of their peers.
Villages are vital.
Visit farms and chat with the people working there. Go to your local markets, start conversations, ask if they know where to get something they might need and offer the same in return. These are normal human behaviors I grew up with, but they’re nonexistent in highly populated areas.
We’re not curious anymore. We listen to headlines, but don’t take the time to talk to locals and what their lived experience is like.
The neighborhood is important. And it’s been dying off.
So if you want an antidote to the hopelessness you might be feeling concerning where the world is headed, here’s an answer. You might not like it. It’ll bring up resistance if you’re more on the avoidant side like myself.
Humans aren’t meant for isolation. And it’s in your hand to change that, so good news! Or not, if you’re more comfortable in the swamp of victimhood—which is part of the game, so no shame there.
Getting out there and entering a connection, no matter how small, even with the middle-aged cashier, is enough.
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