It wasn’t that long ago that families grew enough of their own food to sustain themselves and their neighbors. Backyard chickens, a kitchen garden and sharing our skills with one another was a normal part of life.
People came together and helped each other in times of need. A tragedy for one was a tragedy for all, just as a celebration for one was a celebration for all. They knew they weren’t alone and they were able to grow with purpose. This connection made us stronger, safer and happier as individuals, and communities as a whole.
When the community helped rebuild after a tragedy, they did so with the clear understanding that any one of them could be next. They knew that without the collective pulling together, all individuals were at a higher risk.
It was this principle of sharing the risk and collectively helping after a tragedy that brought us our modern insurances. Modern times have taken the power of the collective and aggregated it into corporations. In theory, it’s a great idea but in practice it has repercussions that aren’t working well for us.
Anytime you abdicate responsibility you also abdicate power. Responsibility and power are two sides of the same coin. In giving away our responsibility to feed ourselves and create systems to care for one another, we’ve given away our power to be a connected, vibrant and thriving community.
In the loss of our interdependency we’ve lost a vital part of our humanity. Advertisers are trying to convince us that the neighborhoods and websites we are part of are the new version of community. They may play a small part but they aren’t true community. People use the word community or tribe a lot these days and I think it’s because we’re all searching for that lost connection.
No one can predict what tomorrow will bring. What should be clear however, is that we continue to live in an ever-changing world. We created GrowSocial as a comprehensive tool for communities to share information and help each other; a way to collaborate on things meaningful to each of us.
We all have choices. I’ve chosen to move towards sustainability and self-sufficiency because I see it as the best choice, not only for me but for our beautiful planet. I’ve been feeding the system, and the system has been feeding me in ways I never knew I needed. It’s a blissful life and I think we can all have it. Let GrowSocial be the online infrastructure for your offline, thriving community. http://www.growsoc.com
Have something to say? Email us at growsocial.org@gmail.com to be a guest blogger. We want to hear from you!
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