Community

 I rarely write this blog live. Usually, I work a day or two ahead, keeping my head clear and responsive to the latest happenings. Because I awoke this morning without having written a blog draft for today, I realized I was going to have wing it. So here it is.

Community is a word often mentioned or tossed about. We live in community. All the time. We are part of the community whether it is just one household or two or three, or an entire block. Maybe several blocks constituting a neighborhood.

Of course, there are communities of faith, political philosophy, social creed, and so much more. We humans are complex. We have physicality, emotional presence, and intellectual probing's. We have many dimensions. And heart strings ready to pluck!

My work in SCORE has been hugely rewarding. Personally, I have worked in the nonprofit sector most of my life. I didn't realize it as I was doing it. Many years - decades - later I was told by others what I had not recognized - a career in nonprofits, helping so many others. 

True, I had not realized I had done this. This was my career, after all, and I just took it one day at a time. Fifty-five years later I find myself working with others to perfect their dreams in the nonprofit field. 

What does that look like? In SCORE [a nonprofit entity associated with the Small Business Administration of the federal government, Commerce Department] we have been at work for nearly 60 years helping entrepreneurs, individuals, start their own businesses. Most are for profit. Some are nonprofit. That is my specialty, so I work almost exclusively with nonprofits. To date, I have amassed 200+ clients and work with 10 or 12 of them each week. My management specialty has centered on strategic planning, so I am able to help boards of directors understand their role and their organizational dream. The planning discipline creates a dynamic that presses organizations forward long into the future.

Those boards, those organizations, are communities, each and every one. But they serve a clientele that is also a community. In most cases, those clienteles come from specific regions or towns that are, in themselves, communities.

Writing this blog daily has taught me that life is community. None of us are alone, isolated or an island. We are one with the planet and its inhabitants. We are community!

Observing today's world, we see war, poverty, hunger, economic devastation, suffering from natural disasters, and an incredible array of health issues. All of these are needs. All of these are our needs to address. It will not get better without our involvement. Whether that is a prayer, a kind thought, a helping hand or a small financial donation, we have much to do.

Some needs are enormous. The Ukraine War by Russia has eliminated some towns and villages, but not the sense of community. Nor is the call from those bloodied communities going unanswered. Entire towns are being transported, housed, fed and clothed by communities spread across the globe. The suffering is real but the response is of love, care and significant nurture.

There are many ways we are called to serve the needs of others. Never has the need been greater. Never will the needs disappear. That is the call of community, of belonging and being of service to others.

This is not a hobby for us. It is a life and purpose for continued life. Do you hear it calling? Do you feel the tug of someone's need? 

Don't let this opportunity slip away. Find the need. Serve the need. Find a fulfilled life.

March 21, 2022