Quotes About Community

We learned that it takes months, even years, to see some ideas take shape. Above all, we recognized that caring for others is very hard to do if you don't see yourself as capable of being helpful to them. There is a terrible and seemingly pointless pain in powerless caring, and it erodes the capacity for affection. To hear a story and be faced with either ignoring it or being a martyr to everyone else's woes are the usual choices available. A school that is a community has other possibilities.

After the storm the city lies becalmed. It is a sunny morning, still and cold. Branches litter the streets like broken limbs. People clear away the wreckage. They swarm around like ants whose anthill has been scuffed; how doggedly they rebuild their lives.

Thou hast begot children not only for thy selfe, but also for thy countrie, which should not only bee to thy self a joy and pleasure,but also profitable and commodius afterwardes unto the common wealth. —BARTHOLOMEW BATTY, The Christian Man's Closet, 1581

She wasn't sure who were family & who were friends, and maybe they all were both, and maybe it didn't matter one bit.

These new people were her people. So what that she'd only recently met these women. In their hearts they were all the same: women yearning for rich lives, someone to love & someone to love them in return, friends to laugh with, drink with & cry with.

She began to scream at the top of her lungs, "I wanna die! I wanna die! I'm gonna kill myself! I wanna die!" Everyone in the neighborhood could hear her.

Knowing that somewhere in the world there is someone who cares what you wore, an insignificant detail of your life that would seem unimportant to anyone else, makes you feel more connected to that person and less alone in the world.

This is how it works. Everything is connected. Every choice matters. Every person is vital, and valuable, and worthy of respect.

Going to church will not get you the black man you seek and it never will. Page 98

Coming together takes the powerless and makes them powerful. Structured Family Recovery brings this power to the family and, in co- operation with the larger recovery community, stands firm in the face of addiction, which trespassed into our homes and multiplied itself into our lives. We crowd addiction out by building a family life brim- ming with togetherness and recovery, even though we may start out not knowing our way back to each other.

I come from the New York theatre world, and I have a lot of gay male friends, so this friendship of Will and Grace's isn't such a stretch.

That was one thing you could count on in small southern towns: everyone knew where the Walmart was located.

Wasn't that the way of things now? Everybody thought they were better at policing than cops. Cops were suddenly the enemy.

A theatre is not only a literal place, but also a space where we dream together; not merely a building, but a space that is both imaginative and collective. pg. 1

A bonnet costs twenty dollars, and implies a shawl and gown to match. A bonnet to one wife, with shawl and gown to match, implies the like to every other wife." The man paused, shook his head ruefully and concluded: "This taste for female finery is breaking up our Mormon homes. Brigham Young may soon be the only man in Salt Lake City rich enough to clothe a dozen wives."28

Why do you not want churches?" "They will teach us to quarrel about God," Joseph said. "We do not want to learn that.

During the first night of flight, twelve infants and several old people froze to death. The next night, the men killed some of the ponies, disemboweled them, and thrust small children inside to keep them from freezing. The old people put their hands and feet in beside the children. For three days they tramped across the frozen snow, their bare feet leaving a trail of blood, and then they reached Crazy Horse's camp.

One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.' - Tashunka Witko (Crazy Horse)

Why do you not want schools?" the commissioner asked. "They will teach us to have churches," Joseph answered. "Do you not want churches?" "No, we do not want churches." "Why do you not want churches?" "They will teach us to quarrel about God," Joseph said. "We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that.

That's not to say that women's priorities are better than men's. Rather, when women are empowered, when they can speak from the experience of their own lives, they often address different, previously neglected issues. And families and whole communities benefit.

I enjoy people, I enjoy a good conversation and doing something together, but I don't require it in my week. I do need several hours of quiet.

The essence of community, its heart and soul, is the non-monetary exchange of value; things we do and share because we care for others, and for the good of the place.

Community is composed of that which we don't attempt to measure, for which we keep no record and ask no recompense. Most are things we cannot measure no matter how hard we try.

Dalam tindakan terkecilnya sekalipun, manusia selalu dibayangi motivasi sosial, manusia butuh justifikasi dari lingkungannya.