Community
Mo Shafieeha and
Community
I say you have to learn how to be with and a part of something in order to know how to be alone. I think it is only out of a deep anchoring in community that one can ever be free to explore the solitary.
Cole Arthur Riley • This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us
Platforms like GoFundMe, reddit grief communities, mutual aid networks, real-time disaster storytelling, and global uprisings in reaction to systemic inequality are demonstrative, real world examples that connectivity breeds empathy and unity. The work of Taiwan’s digital minister Audrey Tang during the COVID-19 pandemic — quickly using the... See more
“Networks connect; communities care”
medium.com
We need more than first responders to navigate crises and create change. Source: https://buildingmovement.org/blog/mapping-our-social-change-roles-in-times-of-crisis/
The dilemma of chasing spectacle versus achieving lasting impact by starting small and cultivating deep, sustainable engagement.
TRANSCRIPT
It's interesting to think about if you're playing the game of spectacle, there's only sort of one path forward, which is more or bigger. Yeah. And mischief trapped ourselves in that own game. Like we've, we built the game, we designed a game. We want it because we're a player of one. And then we essentially are trapped by the game unless we
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“I think you can only really get staying power if you focus on a relationship with a small group for as long as you can possibly hold on and then a little bit more, and then maybe, maybe you have a chance of something with like really significant staying power.”
Zooming out: great communities, in the traditional sense, required limited options so people would remain dependent: no specialists or external trade (to ensure we all collectively worked together), and no diversity or weird ideas (to ensure a homogenous group with a focus on tradition). We had far worse medical treatment, underwent excruciating manual labor, and didn’t necessarily share the same interests with others, but because we were dependent on each other, the bonds were strong. Now the options are virtually limitless, and we’re seeing our social bonds decay as a result.
Kin-building is, at its heart, about finding ease and choosing to rest in others. When you have more people in your life, there is less on your individual shoulders to do and achieve. I do wish I had known sooner that it was about people just as much as it was about accomplishments.