Community matters

Since the election, I have been running through the gammut of emotions. Anger, defeat, fear, resignation, proactiveness, reactionary, etc. The election was not good, and it reminded me that humanity, when it gets the opportunity to empower hate, fear, and toxic beliefs, will take them every single time. It is disappointing and frustrating to those who have risen above such base emotions.

There have been tons of articles and thought pieces on how we got here. Most of them are depressing and make me hate humanity more than I thought I could at this point. I don’t think it is as important to know how we got here. I think what we need to do at this point is to acknowledge it happened, find ways to live through it, and build community. I think disecting how we got here will only make people either angrier or more despaired.

With that, I have been focusing on putting on my oxygen mask first, then helping others. Getting my own plans in order first, then make sure I have space and materials to help others.

Unlike last time, I don’t see any huge protest movements. I think the majority of Americans are exhausted. I think we are tired of fighting for what we need, not just what we want. We are tired of being shouted over, outnumbered, and disregarded. It is hard to keep up the fight when you are shown that 51% of America violently disagrees with the idea that we need to care about each other and be a community.

I’ve heard/read a lot of different things in the last 10 days. That men voted against women because they are tired of being told they are toxic and don’t deserve relationships. That people are tired of paying too much for basic needs. That people are tired of paying taxes to black holes. That people are tired of being told to be better. That people are tired of being told they aren’t important. That people are tired of being regulated. The list goes on.

As I see that list, all I see are people who are upset at being told that these things are the ways society grows and becomes better for everyone. It’s hard not to see everyone who voted against that are selfish and hateful. It’s hard not to be mad at them for voting for purely selfish desires. It makes it obvious why labor and trade unions have declined so much and so rapidly. If there isn’t anything in it for them personally, they don’t want to participate. The world has become so transactional that it is hard to see that there is another way where no one goes without and every person is important.

That leads me to thinking about community. How no man is an island, and it takes so many people to create the society we have. Nothing we have in existence has been done because of one person. It takes a team to instigate across the nation. Yeah, one person may make an invention, but it takes installing that invention that requires teams of people. Thought works the same way.

One of the things that I heard recently was a reason why trump won and Harris lost. Narrative. Trump had a story about an ambiguous “Them” who was working against people, taking jobs, increasing costs, invading spaces that should be predominantly white male territory. That is was in danger of being removed, and white males would find themselves at a severe disadvantage. That the white male would lose power, but trump would go after those people that were bringing these dangers and punish them, make them pay for their transgressions, and bring the white male back into power. For people who aren’t inclined to think of themselves as a part of a working and successful society, the idea they will be powerful is all too enticing. Biden provided only a story that he was able to defeat trump. Harris completely ignored these people and all non-middle class people and their suffering, leaving a large portion of her original base without any hope their needs would be met. Trump fabricated struggles based on hate and fear, got people to believe they were struggling, and that he could make things better. (Secret: he won’t, but now that he has made all these people feel oppressed, they will be easier to oppress moving forwar. They just don’t know that right now.)

I started thinking about community and the building of community. So many people have no idea how to build community, what community is, and why it is so important. We all know we need connections, friends, and family to survive and feel happy and at place in the world. But making a community is difficult. It seems too overwhelming. So hard to get people to join together. It makes me wonder why that is. Why is community so hard? Why is creating it so hard?

I don’t think it is because there are not enough leaders. I think there are a lot of people who don’t see their negative emotions as a sign of saying, “I need to make connections! I need to have outside support! I need to feel a part of something!” Then, when you discover that you need these things, where do you even start finding a group to join? What if there aren’t any in existence? What if there are things that get in your way from being able to connect with others in ways that will be meaningful for you?

Many people turn to church for a community, but that doesn’t always satisfy. The church has its own needs and agendas beyond creating community. People at the church have their own agendas for being there. Not trying to villanize churches, but as a community standard, the only thing bringing people together is a faith. Not a passion or a purpose. Just a pathway to eternal salvation after they die. Not exactly a hopeful today. Not to mention, a large number of cchurchgoers voted for the hellscape that is about to happen. You may not want them in your community schematics, or even be able to have them if your community includes minorities, LGBTQ+, and other groups of people who have now been made the enemy.

The thing about community isn’t that it will topple the evil bad guy. It won’t. What it will do is remove the power that evil bad guy has when you can get what you need through your community. Community gives you a support group where everyone benefits, whether it is materially, emotionally or both. It is why it is so important. It takes away the reliance on those in power and creates a structure that is hard to break. When we stop being transactional in our interactions and material needs, we reduce power to those who rely on our dependency. Community is the way to independence and freedom from those who would wish to subdue us. This is why we need community so much more than protests and cries of outrage. We need each other to create a more perfect world to live in where everyone has autonomy and equity in the world.

It isn’t the ants being able to overpower the grasshoppers. It’s the ants realizing the grasshoppers aren’t necessary for their lives.