I can be a bit of a Homebody.  Sometimes, I am a little introverted and need solitude.

I’ve been a Homebody since I was a little kid.  Whenever I had to be away from “the familiar” as a child… I would get pretty dang upset.

One summer, I spent my days with my good pal Sharon at the Boys’ Club Center.  It was a place for city kids to go play, and do arts and crafts, and those sorts of things.  Smack-dab in the middle of downtown Dayton, Ohio.

Funny little runt, I was.  They had a sleepover camp for those who wanted to go.  It was probably like a 3 night deal.  Well… I got pretty “sick” on the very first night and they had to call my parents to come pick me up. No Hand-Print-Ashtrays for Mom & Dad that summer! Or woven potholders.

So to this day, I would rather be at home than anywhere.  And sometimes… I enjoy a little sequestered alone time.

Yet.  Yet. Yet.  When I am with people, I love people.  I have fun, and enjoy the experience (most of the time).  I like the way it all works… when people interact and share their people-ness.  I like Community.

Yeppers.  Community is such a good thing.  I have been reminded of this the past two evenings.  I’ve had separate Board Meetings each night.

As I sat in both of those meetings… it struck me how important community can be. Like a colony of bees.  There is a feeling of fellowship with others.  And, it is a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.  Commonality.  Necessity.  Cooperation.

It can be a Swirling Dervish sometimes.  Yet the whole thing has the ability to be a well orchestrated dance.  I like it when Community has the adeptness to dance together.  Nicely.
I am always amazed too, how such a mixture of “individuals” can come together, and share resources, deftness, and intelligence.  Ideas.

Things come up in community… thoughts, and plans, and postulations… that we may not have visualized on our own.

The good thing, is finding balance between the two.  Being comfortable in your own skin… and having the competence to join in collaborative community.

Every once in a while though… you will encounter a bee in the swarm with a really big stinger.  Or perhaps…. one that is WAY too busy.  But none-the-less…. you’ll never find your honey unless you join in the hive.

“A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living”  – Rudolph Steiner

“A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.” – A. Phillip Randoph