Community Spirit
What is community-spirit? And when does a community know it has it? I mean, how does a community of collective individuals fit themselves into the same space while still giving themselves enough leg room to seriously contend on an issue or set of issues? And need we always assume that contention is altogether bad?
Where does the community-spirit go when those contending the issue(s) can’t agree which way is forward? What then? This is one of the many issues facing members of my local Bowlo (Bowling Club). To close or not to close, that is the question. To sell or not to sell … and why is it then that we always pull up short of the full Shakespearian quote which charges us with the more provocative OR. That is to say, “to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune OR to take arms against a sea of troubles.”
I’m intrigued by the quote’s emphasis and where its focus lies. Its incitement is against the ‘sea of troubles’ not each other. It’s call to arms suggests a collective togetherness. People power?
So community-spirit then might be the momentum attributed to or gained by the collective individuals maintaining the common cause. Now there’s a thought, but, is it too much to ask? To maintain the cause I mean? And the cause in our case, that the ‘sham Bowlo doors remain open.
Sometimes I feel like we can lose sight of the things that really matter. Have you ever been on the beach the morning after a storm? There’s debris everywhere, it’s not always a pretty sight. But we can recall the glory days, those ones before the storm.
That’s the time we need to look toward the horizon again, ask ourselves why we want the doors to remain open … or how we work together to ensure they can stay open … or whether when those on the front line are feeling tired they are willing to rest and regain their strength and allow others to continue on in their place for the common cause and common good?
And should it die, this community-spirit, will it ever be possible for it to rise from the ashes again? A modern-day phoenix by any other name … it’s possible, what do you think?
