September 23, 2011 – Being a Community Advisor (CA) with SERVE this year, it has been very enjoyable for me to revisit our primary book for class, Community, by Peter Block. In preparation for one of our first classes this year I came across a quote that I had really stuck out to me.
One of his definitions of community is, “It is the opposite of thinking that wherever I am, I would be better off somewhere else.” After reading and rereading that line, I grabbed my colored pencils and wrote it down on a note pad, and then sat at my desk deep in thought about this single sentence. The more I thought about it, the more meaningful it became to me.
There is so much truth in this single statement. How can I fully engage in the community around me if my thoughts and desires are elsewhere? The best way to completely engage in a community is to dive all in. There is no halfway.
Think about a timid child learning to dive for the first time. It is an extremely scary thing to take that initial plunge, and it requires extreme amounts of determination and focus. If they are lacking that determination and focus then it will be especially difficult to put their faith into something unknown. Any distraction or doubt will make the initial plunge impossible until those feelings are pushed aside.
It is similar with community. There is no way that we can truly experience community if we are not committed to that community. This does not mean that we can only be a part of one community at any point in our lives. I think it is the opposite of that; there are many different communities we can belong to, but we can only do so if that is truly where we want to be.
The opposite of “I would be better off somewhere else” is loving the community that you are in. It’s focusing on how we can make the best out of the present and not dwelling on the past or the future. It’s accepting whatever our current situation in life is, regardless of how difficult it may be.
I believe that this quote can have a significant impact on anybody, but it especially relates to college students because for many of us, it’s the first time that we’re far away from family, life-long friends, and everything that we have come to know over our life. It’s a time of transition and conflict of interest.
It is so easy for me to begin thinking about many aspects of my life other than the community that I am in at that very minute. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with thinking about the past, future, or friends and family in other locations, but the problem is when I become so focused on those other things that I loose sight of the fact that at that very moment.
I am in the midst of an absolutely incredible community and that if I do not focus on the opportunities at hand, I am going to miss out. I think that is why I was able to relate to this quote so well. Now, it is taped up in my room as a constant reminder that my current community is and has the potential to be absolutely incredible, and that any community has that potential as long as I am not wishing that I were somewhere else but fully engaged in that situation. This one simple mindset has the potential to do big things, things bigger than I can even imagine.
-MA