Some thoughts on this chilly Monday in the Northeast on the Christmas season and the needs of community.
One of my favorite trees is the Redwood. The Sequoia. Magnificent standing monuments to the efficacy of family and a model of what a community can be.
These trees are often over a thousand years old and grow to 300 feet tall. Yet the root system of a single tree rarely extends below eight feet. Hardly enough strength to keep them from falling.
Community keeps them upright.
Their roots intertwine with other redwoods in a community called a grove. The roots of the grove interconnect to other groves and an exponential strength evolves as each tree helps the other stand erect in grace against fire and storm and time.
Our human species is similar to the Redwoods. Extended families and friends gather in people groves, and like the Redwoods, intertwine life with life, hopes with hopes, wishes with wishes and mutual celebrations in the simple beauty of being who we are.
Shared experience is the substance of hierarchical transformation. Empathy and service to others engender joy and helps create an immediate and an extended community.
This time of year we call that community the Christmas spirit.
1 comment:
It is a shame that more people do not realize that there is truly strength in numbers and in unity. Enjoy the snow and the cold up there.
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