“Community is a sign that love is possible in a
materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It
is a sign that we don't need a lot of money to be happy--in fact, the
opposite.” Jean Vanier
“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”
Genesis 1:31
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As I mentioned in my last post, I’m reading the book Bowling Alone. This book examines the decline of community
in America, and the important role community plays. One of the things that has surprised me the
most as I have read this book is the timing of the collapse of community. I would have thought it began with the advent
of television. But that’s not the
case. Community continued to thrive
until the late 1990’s. The internet has
had much more of a negative effect on community than television. Who knew?
One of the statistics that jumped out at me was that in the
heyday of community, a survey was taken by Gallup to determine American’s
confidence in their neighbors. The
results of the survey indicated that a strong majority of people (77%) believed
that most people can be trusted. While
the book doesn’t spell it out, I suspect that it’s because we knew our
neighbors and were in community with them.
(Of course, neighbors are more than just those who live in proximity to
you).
The book goes on to say that in the late 1990s, several
surveys were conducted. Here are some of
the startling results:
- “77% of those surveyed said the nation was worse off because
of less involvement in community activities.”
- “75% said that the breakdown of community and selfishness
were serious or extremely serious problems in America."
- “Only 8% of all Americans said that the honesty and
integrity of the average American were improving, as compared with 50% who
thought Americans were becoming less trustworthy.”
- “The number of people who thought Americans were becoming
less civil was 80% versus 12% who thought we were becoming more civil.”
- And finally, “Our society is focused more on the individual than the community and yet more than 80% felt there should be more emphasis on community, even if that put more demands on individuals.”
It seems that we are becoming a country of extremes. You either have money or you don’t. You are either overly self-confident
(bordering on arrogant) or you lack confidence and self-esteem. These extremes foster a breakdown of
community, in part because we don’t know our true place in it.
As I said, I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Seminary will do that to you, but that’s not
my only perspective. I’ve been watching
the number of people participating in my store, in churches, in civic groups
and even in politics decline over the years, and research is supporting my
observations. Why is that? Maybe it’s because we haven’t given any
thought to it at all because we’re busy.
Maybe it’s because we think we are just one person, so how important can
it be whether or not we participate in community. Or maybe we think we’re too important to
spend time in that way.
My first Guided Meditation workshop is this Wednesday at 9
AM. We’ll be using the poetry of the Psalms,
and the first one we’ll be meditating on is Psalm 8. It addresses the age old question “Who am I?”. I’ll be providing you with a journal to
record your thoughts as we go through the session. You don’t have to share anything aloud, if
you don’t want to, so don’t be nervous to join us and explore who you are and
what it means to be in community.
Hi Angela - I like the opening reflections on your blog. When I worked at Starbucks, one of the corporate goals was to create a third place for people that could travel with them whatever city they were in. To some degree that;'s what the internet does as well. While the internet has lessened community in traditional ways, it's also increased it in others. I have good friends on FB that I have never met and probably never will, but we have walked together through deaths, divorces, re-marriages, unemployment and more. I often wonder about the online CoB - I think it's Living Stream CoB - and what kind of community they build there. I'm glad that you are intentional about seeking and building community - I am looking forward to hearing how the guided meditation workshop went! grace and love - Jeff D
ReplyDeleteHi Jeff,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response! I've gotten a few mixed responses about the Internet. In this same article that I referenced from the businessinsider.com, it specifically cited a study of Facebook users. The study found that the amount of time spent on the social network was INVERSELY related to how happy people felt throughout the day. More time = less happiness. I wonder if that's because FB time indicates time not spent interacting with people in person? I think it's probably like all things - good in moderation. But it is something interesting to contemplate.
The meditations have been absolutely wonderful! I have to say I'm much better at committing to do something in community - it's on my calender and I'm accountable to others. I could do these meditations on my own, but I find that I don't. So, it's been good for me as well as for others.
Angela