Cagora - What IS Community

In a world gone mad, the idea of community appears to have gotten lost. People wake up, go to work, come home without stopping to realise that on their way to the office they probably passed through a number of small communities. They may live, work or play among any number of communities. But do they realise it? In this busy chaotic world, Cagora - It's All About Community plans to ask that question, and prove that yes, communites are alive, kicking and very strong.

You just have to open your eyes.

Scrolling through the Internet today I found a very fascinating post by Suellen Hozman. Suellen raises a very good question about Community; What does it really mean?

"The Universal Community will meet everywhere, tonight at eight. The fictitious announcement appeared as galactic skywriting. What if everyone came? Would everyone stay? Probably not. Some would leave because people from over there, you know, that place, came. I struggle with the word community. What does it really mean? I feel heretical taking issue with the word. It’s the social apple pie of language. Sometimes it gets flung, hits you in the face and it doesn’t taste sweet."

Source: About.com Human Resources

What does Community mean? For decades, people have often thought of community as weekends together doing group shared activities. Local fairs and markets, weekly town meetings and bake-offs are all steriotypical "old school" Community activities. But is this really the truest definition of Community?

THE COMMUNITY EQUATION

The American Heritage Dictionary refers to community as being:

"A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community."

Source: Dictionary.com

Now we are getting somewhere! Take a few minutes to think over this quote. let's break it down into it's 3 key parts.

"A Group"

Joined together, as one.

"of people"

Laugh if you will, but "people" are the central key phrase here. People MAKE a community. People ARE the community.

"having common interests"

Regardless of how big, small, serious or funny that interest may be, it's still a vital part of the Community Equation.

To ask the question again; What IS a community? In it's broadest sense, it is you, me, and the people around us. It is mothers sharing stories over coffee. It is athletes sharing an interest in their sport. It is teenagers talking about music.

Community "is"!

More on this in the next installment of "Cagora - It's All About Community.