build community

 

It takes a village. To exist. As a human. On Earth.

Humans are communal creatures - meaning community is essential to human existence as the air we breathe, food we eat, or shits we take. It’s a fact of life - we need each other. I believe I have neglected this truth in my adult life. I have family - I don’t mean this in a family sense. I have friends - I don’t mean this in a friend’s sense. I mean community in the sense that you’re a part of a group of like minded humans who serve side by side their community in which they are members. 

In my youth I had this sense of community within my church. We were all Christians wanting to serve our fellow humans (but being a church we were also going to proselytize to you in order for us to render our service). In church I found folks asking the same questions as me about life, and finding similar answers. In church I got to go paint houses for members in the community who were unable to do such. In church I got to go work in food pantries helping members of the community in need of food. In church I got to go volunteer at nursing homes, and spend time with pillars of our community. Church brought me a sense of community as a youth. We had the gospel in our hearts as motivation, and the words of Jesus to guide us to serve. 

I think for a stint in my early adulthood I found a sense of community in the military. But in the military once we realized why we were there, once we woke up, we all wanted out. The majority of those I served with who were my rank served their first term, and then bounced. You wake up and realize the terror the US government is. You wake up and realize you’re just this poor kid who needed money for college who was sold a bunch of bullshit to fight wars for the rich. I found community while I was in because we all had the dread of having to serve once you’re awake day in and day out, we were airmen in dread together. We had no choice but to continue the job we were doing - we’d go to prison if we didn’t. I served beside them with dread in our hearts, and the bullshit our NCOs were spewing as our guide to serve. 

The military only lasted four years. Then I lost community into early and mid adulthood. I had awakened from religion as well as from the military industrial complex. Therefore church was no longer an option to find community. As life progressed I just pulled deeper inside myself. I lost touch with any community. I haven’t been a part of a community of any sorts for the majority of my adulthood. By choice and by circumstance. I haven’t put a lot of effort in reaching out for community. I haven’t reached out to serve. But I also haven’t really found community - haven’t found my people. And it becomes difficult to serve when you’re not plugged into a community (not excuses, just facts). There were also leftist protests (BLM, anti-confederate monument, Pride) here and there that I would take part in. Overall, my adulthood has been community deprived. (And honestly? I’m just now realizing this. Goddamn, sometimes it takes some time to learn things.) 

That brings me to today. Seventeen days after the election. And I think I’m realizing I might have found community once more. In the Knoxville DSA. True comrades. Folk who believe in human rights. Folks who believe in the working fucking class. Folks who believe in fighting fascism. Folks who have awakened from the deep coma of capitalist individualism. Folks fighting for community. Like minded individuals. Leftists. Comrades. Siblings in this struggle of the working class. It’s a small community. And I like that. Do I want it to grow? Most def. But for now, the small numbers keep me from being intimidated. I want to grow with them. Grow in theory. Grow in praxis. Grow in community. My partner and I have officially joined the DSA. Card carrying socialist (mind you I’m an anarcho-communist, but that is for another post). We went to our first meeting a couple weeks ago. We went to a class the next week (building a mass movement) and a DSA social gathering afterwards. Next week we will be attending another class on fighting fascism. I hope in the future we have opportunities to serve our community as well with my new comrades. We will be attending a town hall meeting of human rights organizations in the coming weeks as well. This is a community I feel like I belong to, and can support. It’s been a long time coming. Didn’t know what I was missing. Grateful for what I’ve found. 

I’m in the middle of my existence should I make it to a ripe old age. I feel sorry for my past self in the sense that I was missing community for so long. I’ll sit in pity for a hot second, but then I’ll move on. It’s the Now that exists. And now I’ve found community. Community that gives me motivation for existence, gives me fuel for hope, gives me an outlet for raging against the machine. If you’re reading this and you’re missing community, stop right now, and google some communities to get involved in. We need community as human beings. Don’t neglect that part of yourself. Don’t neglect your siblings living in your community. Don’t sit high on the privilege throne. Come down in the streets with us. Build community with us. Resist fascism with us. Now is as good a time as any to join a community and fight a revolution.

comrade h