Family - the Community - the Seed - by Evelyn Billberg
When do we first experience “Community” and how do we bring up our children with an understanding of the importance of community? The importance of sharing and caring for others, helping others when they are in need of help and support is accomplished through experience. I know that it started for me in my home. My mother and father were the heart of bringing support and help to their brothers and sisters. Our home was the focal point for both families.
My father had five brothers (he was in the middle) and a younger sister. My mother was the eldest of four sisters. We didn’t have a large home, just a typical 3 bedroom, 1 bath, which accommodated our family, my older brother and myself. Most of the holiday gatherings and dinners were held in our home. When my parent’s siblings moved in and out of relationships and jobs, they rotated back to our home for help and support.
Family is the first community that we experience. We all have immediate and extended family members who are walking their life experience, each with their own roller-coaster ride. Each needing help and support from time to time. They may need someone to talk to, they may need counsel, advice, even financial support during difficult times. This was my experience in the late 1940’s and 50’s, as I watched my parents providing counsel and support to their siblings. My parent’s aunts and uncles were part of the wide umbrella of care and love reaching to this extended family unit.
This family community is so important in this challenging and difficult world. We have moved away from this caring and loving community. Children are expected to leave the home in their early 20s to forge for themselves. Family gatherings which include wide extended family members are no longer prevalent. So many young people are out on the street, homeless because there is no family member who will take them in and provide counsel, temporary shelter, even financial support as they try to find their way. Depression, drugs, and even suicide plagues our communities. We have neglected our most important community…the family.
Children who grow up living with interaction and relationships with family members find balance in understanding others. They show compassion and care for others who have weak moments and need help as they find their way in this world. These strong family units are the most dynamic centers for children to understand the importance of community.
At this time, many individuals struggle who have not had the opportunity to grow up in a strong family structure. May we extend the thought that we can start again now. Each individual can rally around close friends and acquaintances and establish strong ties, work together and develop their own community of friends. May we begin providing support for each other and working together.
Community is how we will survive going forward. It is how we will solve problems, large and small. This then extends into the cities and states, .and to the United States Government. The major reason these units are established to function is to provide help and support to the lives of American citizens. This is their only purpose…and it is best learned in a strong family community.