Community Is ...

By Chris Filek
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Waterbury, Connecticut

I find the best metaphor for community is community as individuals. Before I get into this however, I would like to talk about how different communities are and what a community can be. I live in the town of Cheshire that is, in and of itself, a community. I am also apart of a music community, people who travel all over the country to go to concerts. I am also in a friendship community, a group of really close friends where we talk most everyday and keep in close touch with out friends who have moved away but who are still apart of that community. I am in a community on Xbox in my Madden football league and in Call of Duty with some close friends. I am in a community of students here at UConn Waterbury. Communities come in all shapes and sizes and there is no one singular definition of community.

A community must first and foremost be all about the individuals. If you ever look at a really good movie, each and every character is unique in his or her own way. Take The Godfather, for instance. Sonny was loud, animated and aggressive, while his brother, Michael, was quiet, reserved and relaxed. If a community was all of the same thinking then you end up with a cult or a radical extremist regime like the Nazis. Individualism is very important and is identified with American society. We are probably the first country where being an individual was virtually universally accepted. The idea of community also matters because it can give the individual a sense of self. Although, in my idea of a community, it is predicated around individuals that we also need to have common bonds that keep us together. My community of concert attendees is bonded by our love of either live music in general, or a specific band that is performing. We are all much different on our own but we are bonded by our shared joy of live music.

From living in my hometown for the better part of my life, I can also tell you that community is also a support system. The Petit Family Tragedy took place in our town and now twice a year we do Lights of Hope, once in the fall and another in the summer as a remembrance to their family. The church and Dr. Petit’s family, friends and neighbors have all tried to be there in his time of grief. We put the luminaries up every year and so do all of our neighbors. We never met the man or his family but we are part of this community and that tragedy touched all of us very deeply.

From what I’ve learned about community I can tell you that any community can be successful as long as the people in it legitimately care about each other. If everyone in the town was a hermit then parks would be overgrown by weeds and recreational areas would become extinct. If everyone thought they were the boss then everyone would fight and nothing would get done. A community is a shared experience among individuals and if you get the right group of people it can flourish.