“Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead
Community is the circle to which we belong. Our community is our family and friends, our schools, cities and the organizations of which we are a part. Our community expands outward like ripples on the water from ourselves to include the circle of our planet.
Despite the eventual size of our circle of influence, our communities start out small–like a solitary stone. We must pick up and throw the pebble in the pond that will ripple outward. What do you hold in your hand, your heart, your head that you can contribute? What would make a positive impact upon the waters?
To answer this question, ask yourself what you care about–what you love. We always work best when we are doing what we love. Love is our highest motivation.
Remember that all thoughts, feelings, words and actions have an impact. We affect our environment whether we try to or not. So why not have a positive impact?
Service is the act of helping those around us. So, we ask ourselves: how can we help? Who can we help? It could be a dog or a cat, a boy or a girl, a tree or the earth.
“All is connected…no one thing can change by itself.”
– Paul Hawken
So, let’s circulate love.
“Love is an action, translated from one person to another to encircle the world.”
Here are some ideas:
- Help an elderly neighbor with their groceries, make them a card…
- Create a local Peace Scouts troupe and teach their curriculum of loving wisdom.
- Start a Roots and Shoots group to support a healthy relationship with the earth.
- Empower your children with ways they can make money or otherwise give a gift to their family and those they love. Giving is an natural expression of love.
- Talk to your children about what they care about and center your charity around their interest–whether it is the humane society or food for needy children.
- Focus on the positive: think of the solution not the problem.
- Tell your children in all different ways how much you love them. Be creative!
- Expand your community–include someone.
- Talk about the ways we are the same and different. children are naturally curious and seek to explore their world. Sometimes the hardest things to talk about are the things they need to understand the most.
- Learn from other cultures. How do different people express love? How is love expressed in your community?
- Spend quality time with your children in your community. Quality is almost always better than quantity.
- Children teach us to slow down and see things differently. Take a walk in their world and let them lead you for a while. How is their community different from yours?
- Buying local not only circulates your money (energy) in your community, but helps you to strengthen connections within community. When we know our neighbor or neighborhood store we will care more about our community.