The Inherent Humanity of Community

 Dear Reader

  How strange it is to be part of a community, to be known by people, to know people. I sometimes sit in my bedroom with the window open to catch a breeze, and hear the opening notes to the prologue song from Disney's Beauty and the Beast over and over again, as some neighbor practices their piano. I notice another neighbor in her usual reading spot outdoors as I go on an irregular walk. My roommate makes me the same drink I always get at my favorite coffee shop, sometimes even before I arrive. A friend points out a frequent behavior of mine as a humorous mockery. Time and time again, I am reminded that I am human, and to be human is to be known, to commune, to be part of community.

  Humanity is an inherently social species, so much so that it is perhaps a major contributing factor to our survival and status now as a global species. We wouldn't have survived if not for our constant efforts to look out not only for ourselves, but for those around us. We are so social, we have domesticated many different kinds of herd and pack animals, including dogs. Dogs! We looked at them and thought, friend! And then they were!

  It is easy to forget, considering our greatest strength as a species is also our greatest internal threat: looking out for those we consider to be "in," and disregarding or even attacking those we consider to be "out." Racism, misogyny, ableism, classism, they all ultimately stem from a belief that those with an outwards difference must be different and therefore a threat. And yet. Even in the midst of the horrors that we plague upon each other, human kindness, compassion, community can still be found.

  I fear I have let myself get a little carried away, perhaps taken on too much in such a short format. But I would simply like to say that in an increasingly disconnected world, for all kinds of reasons from social media to car dependent communities to a lack of third places to hyperindividualism, I am increasingly delighted and comforted the more that I find where I am connected. My roommate and I sipping sangria and watching Vine compilations; family game nights; people watching at a coffee shop and seeing the many friendships and relationships; getting the best peaches I have ever eaten for free from my bonus parents; watching my nieces and nephews grow up and learn to love the same things I did at their age; my brother helping me figure out college applications. They all remind me that I have a network, a group, a community, that I am not alone in figuring out this strange new world we have made. And I simply wanted to share that in some small way with the rest of the world.

So until next time, Dear Reader, as always

Clara