There's community amidst the chaos
The word crisis is what is coming up all around us. We have been talking about this and how heavily it’s been used over these past few years, and again we’ve turned to definitions to bring us perspective. In discussing ‘crisis’ we discovered that it doesn’t mean to us what it used to in older times. Whilst today it speaks to an emergency, to the Greeks crisis meant “to sift, decide and discern”. Although the ongoing feeling of upheaval seems persistent, we thought that there’s the littlest bit of solace to us in that original meaning and what little autonomy is left amongst the turbulence.
Perhaps herein lies the idea of a “turning point”. As people open their homes up for strangers and volunteer their time to help people recover from these upheaval events, it reminds us that our need for community permeates all facets of our lives. It invites us to take stock and consider the ways our humanity can inspire solidarity long past the actual crisis itself. So, although staying in the loop is important, perhaps fostering a sense of community and connection during times of distress is equally essential.
As climate emergencies, war and viruses stare us in the face, it turns a mirror onto our own human responses and our need for community. When, on a rather superficial level, the support from the systems is lacking, our communities capacity for empathy and love for others are measured by our responses, actions and duty of care to those affected. An article in The New Philosopher titled ‘Remembering Our Humanity’ describes this response to moments of crisis “like a fast-acting catalyst that promotes replacement of the once singular ‘I’ (and everything that I deem as important) to the collective ‘us’.” This collective us has been a constant thread throughout the last few years, as our social and emotional obligations and connection to one another have never been more challenged, and a sense of community more vital.
The word community is based on shared circumstances, certainly, but more so offers a transcendent kind of togetherness. Because our identity is so closely related to our sense of belonging, and when we experience sameness, it can be unifying. In the last year, the words “We are in this together” have landed on our ears so often, now it can feel annoying to hear them again. So many of us want to disconnect, tap-out. But, by pulling together and giving part of ourselves to the community, we can do something to counter crises, and allow connection to do something positive for us too. Because when there is a crisis and there is a sense of collective grief, there is little else to do but to persist and heal as a collective. Whether that be through donations of goods, volunteering time, checking in on a neighbour, sending a text, togetherness is an instinct which restores our hope and solidifies that we depend on each other to survive. But we also have to depend on ourselves and interrogate the “I”, ask ourselves what we need; sift, decide and discern. Then we can turn to the community with the collective “us” in mind with a resounding question of “what can I do to help”.