It has been a long time since I wrote on this blog. Call it busyness, or perhaps just a lack of creative juices, but it does not mean a shortage of great memories and experiences the last little while. The busyness is mostly due to a variety of community events I have been planning lately. I somehow get suckered into that stuff all the time, but mostly because I just can’t resist. I love to create opportunities for people to connect and for people to come together and celebrate or take part in something in common.
The latest event was a pre-torch party when the Olympic Flame came through Banff. Whatever your thoughts are on the Olympics, this event was just pretty darn cool. Knowing that same flame had travelled thousands of kilometres and been held by hundred of people, all united within the same country was a really neat thing to be a part of. Seeing hundreds, if not over 1000 people gathered to watch the flame in a town the size of Banff was just amazing. There was so much energy and cheer in the streets. We were all bonded by that flame because we were all there to see it, no matter what it meant to us.
It made me think a lot about community, and its vital importance to our everyday life.
I don’t know if you’ve watched Planet Earth, but there is a segment in that about penguins and what they do to keep warm. Emperor Penguins in Antarctica form a close huddle, which moves continuously both in a circular motion and inward. Each penguin takes turns being on the inside and on the windward side of the huddle. By moving continuously, they all keep their temperatures up, and by taking turns on the inside, they have the chance to warm-up before returning to the outside of the circle. It is a magical thing to watch. Conversely, any penguin that is left out of the huddle is left to die. Only those who work together survive.
This is the ultimate image of community to me. These events we attend and groups we are part of may seem silly and inconsequential at times, but in reality, they are part of a bigger picture. We need community in order to survive. In our day and age, we may not die due to isolation, but a large part of our soul will wither away without the sustenance of community with other people.
Looking at the latest devastation in Haiti and other places around the globe, it has become even more obvious how essential it is to find community with other people in the worst of times. And seeking community with others in the best of times prepares us for the worst. It puts people in our lives who are prepared to invest in us, to save us, if I may say, when we truly need it most.
Every earthquake, even the smaller ones in our own lives, can leave us exposed and vulnerable, but our community will be there to help us – we only have to let them in. In times of trial, despair, fragility and pain, seek community. We were never meant to live it out alone.
© Meghan J. Ward, 2010.




