Curious about Community: What Kind of Community Are You a Part Of? Or Are You Looking for a New and Perfect Community to Join?

“I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in.” - Anita Roddick, British business woman

“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” - Mitch Albom, American writer

I know that I am writing my weekly blog a day late. It is because I just took part in a three day Leadership Conference engineered by the business community I joined this past July. And, even though I know that the outcome will be working, sharing and paying off my debts, I joined it for the community of those involved.

In the past I have attended many conferences, but none so large (30,000 attendees) or inspiring. I have found the community I was searching for. Those who belong are positive, excited, and “fired up.” They are all working on improving their skills: leadership, relationships, personalities, presenting, selling and more. I could keep on going. Just know that this community is working together to have fun and make a difference.

The two quotations I started with sum it all up perfectly. However, I found many others that I want to stretch you and your minds with:

• “The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.” - William James, American philosopher
• “The community which has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest principles.” – Plato, Greek philosopher
• “Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It's important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It's the way in which we ourselves grow and develop.” - Dorothy Height, American activist
• “The open society, the unrestricted access to knowledge, the unplanned and uninhibited association of men for its furtherance - these are what may make a vast, complex, ever growing, ever changing, ever more specialized and expert technological world, nevertheless a world of human community.” - J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist
• “A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet
• “The real community of man is the community of those who seek the truth, of the potential knowers.” - Allan Bloom, American philosopher

Some quotations with a bit of a twist or different interpretation of community:

• “There is more than a verbal tie between the words common, community, and communication... Try the experiment of communicating, with fullness and accuracy, some experience to another, especially if it be somewhat complicated, and you will find your own attitude toward your experience changing.” - John Dewey, American philosopher
• “Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” - Rollo May, American psychologist
• “I think that every person has to make a genuine contribution in their lives and the institution of work is one of the main vehicles to achieving this. I'm more and more convinced that individual leaders can create a human community that will, in the long run, lead to the best organizations.” - Warren Bennis, American writer
• “Community colleges are one of America's great social inventions a gateway to the future for first time students looking for an affordable college education, and for mid-career students looking to get ahead in the workplace.” - Barbara Mikulski, American politician
• “Any institution becomes a community - whether it's a high school or a boarding school or a publishing company or a small town where everybody knows certain things about people.” - Alice Hoffman, American author
• “Fortunately art is a community effort - a small but select community living in a spiritualized world endeavoring to interpret the wars and the solitudes of the flesh.” - Allen Ginsberg, American poet

And, as always, two for you to chew upon:

“You take care of you and your family first. Then you go to your neighborhood, and then you spread it on out within the community.” - Al Smith, American politician

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” - Marianne Williamson, American author

Just remember that we are the sum total of those we hang out with – our community. What kind of community are you a part of?