Community…what is it?

Community is a word that is often used, but very vaguely defined. What is a community? How big is a community? What does it mean to you? If you ask different people they could give different ideas to what a community is and what it means to them. For instance a community can refer to a group of people living in a particular local area or having shared ethnic, cultural or religious characteristics. This implies those who live inside the community are similar to each other and different from others. These differences can create a bond between some people and excludes others, which is fault certain communities can have. To me a community is a group of people who can gather together and interact with each other, which in turn help gain knowledge from each other by sharing one’s experience.

If “sharing” is occurring, the more a community will be united and the healthier it can be. If a variety of people work together in unison, this can develop a sustainable community, since each individual can learn from another, just because of their different backgrounds. To me a community isn’t just a select group of people with shared characteristics, but a cosmopolitan amount of people working together for a common purpose.

Exert: Chris Ling, Community lecture at Royal Roads University