Community as sanctuary

Community, in its definition inclusive of mutually shared goals, values, and groups, offers a resolution in trying times. The upkeep of community is a matter of commitment and greater interest than individual responsibility. What happens to us when we experience a painful shake of the core values intrinsic to facets of our collective communities, where we ask, “Where do we go from here?” I chose to look to the caretakers, the guardians, and those who continue to uphold the community as a sanctuary.

Community as a sanctuary means acting in commune with the persons and things around us. It is caring for the environment and an opportunity for practices centring the land and its offerings. Mutually beneficial relationships between communities offer opportunities that foster kinship beyond individual measures. It is the collective effort which enables futures worth pursuit. It means expanding perspectives beyond the individual that align with collectivist futures that hold you and I in mind.

In holding up the guardians, these collective measures are free from selfish and capitalist ventures guarding individual pursuit of success. Our interconnectedness and shared humanity shout that if one is not free, we are not free. Audre Lorde said, “You do not have to be me in order for us to fight alongside each other. I do not have to be you to recognize that our wars are the same. What we must do is commit ourselves to some future that can include each other and to work toward that future with the particular strengths of our individual identities. And in order for us to do this, we must allow each other our differences at the same time as we recognize our sameness.” In shared or different values, returning to communal efforts offers opposition to forces which aim to divide.

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