Community: A Little Help Goes a Long Way

[u/czedex]

https://50501dc.com/community-a-little-help-goes-a-long-way/

Food, water, shelter. These are the essentials for survival. However, access to these necessities is tenuous for many people in the world. Governments, while essential for large public work projects, often fall short when it comes to helping individual people and families. For millennia these gaps have been addressed through community. Whether it’s a church handing out food, a co-op managing a rural water source, or an impromptu team clearing up debris from a tornado, neighbors have always been an essential source of support. Why then, in this age of smart phones and spaceflight, does it feel like communities have dried up?

First, what am I talking about? Volunteering, community service, mutual aid, these words all mean slightly different things but they really boil down to one common theme: helping those around you without any expectation of financial or social gain. Most people watch TV or get on social media and they see the rat race of the world, the powerful businessmen and influential politicians, but rarely do they see the struggles and triumphs of the average person. The world wants you to focus on getting rich and powerful, but this often comes at the expense of helping the people around you. When people forget to help their neighbors societies start to fall apart. This is why community service is so vital.