A Community of Children

I was driving with a friend recently. As we moved along, they started to comment about the other drivers on the road. We were moving through traffic and enjoying some music when our conversation sparked a question. 

When did driving stop being a community event?

You may be wondering what this question has to do with our work with children? Before that moment, I had never once considered driving as community collaboration. They were right. Driving is a community collaboration, like many other things in life.

One definition of Community says. "An interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location." By this definition, driving does constitute community collaboration. Waiting in a line, shopping, walking around town, taking the subway, and going to the park are all actions of life where we are in a community. Today, many of these daily tasks have moved from collaboration to competition, and people notice how we work together, especially children.

Children watch as their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents interact. Some community members drive while honking, swearing, and complaining. Shopping at holiday time now represents competition to see who can get the best gift. Driving personifies a competition. If people drive the speed limit or obey the traffic laws, others claim their right to tell them how to drive with a honk, a yell, or a one-finger salute. Waiting in line as the person in front of you asks questions from the bank teller is a major inconvenience.

Has life become so personalized and customized that people forget others exist?

Everything we buy requires sellers to customize it for our tastes. We can get a perfect cup of coffee, paint color, TV show, type of food, temperature, and so much more at the touch of a finger. Why cook food when we can drive up to a screen, talk to it, and food comes out of a window in 3 minutes or less. 

What happened to our everyday Community?

Sure, we experience community events where people come together for the greater good. These are fantastic events that help those in need and bring people together. 

Children learn about Community by witnessing the actions we practice every day. Our actions are more important than the rules we ask children to follow. If people could return the everyday life events into community events, children would learn that waiting for a few minutes in line is a part of life. The way adults choose to live in a community and interact with others influences children who watch and learn how to shape future Communities. 

We have a choice to make. Can we pass up some of our immediate wants, so children can grow up with role models that embrace Community? Our actions and how people treat each other create the fruit we will grow. 

"As ripples spread out when a single pebble drops into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects." ~ Dalai Lama

How do our actions affect the Community we live in? How do our actions influence children?