Communities

A view of some of the snow in part of my yard that fell last night.

One of biggest surprises about homesteading that I am finding is that it is much more than a few little things that a person does. It is more than about canning, gardening, and so on. It is even more than just a way of life. While all that is a part of homesteading, I am finding that it is also about an attitude that we aren't here on this planet just for ourselves. It is about loving ourselves enough to want to take care of ourselves by being self sufficient, but it is also about us to then love our neighbor the same as ourselves, so much in fact, that we allow our neighbor to help themselves so that they too can become self sufficient. Instead of us just taking care of **their** problems for them and having all nice warm fuzzy feelings because of what we did. In doing so, at least I'm finding, you build a caring, working, homesteading community.

This morning I learned that very important lesson about what a community really is all about. I learned that for a group of people to be a real community, everyone needs to feel like they have something worthwhile to contribute. And sometimes that involves a person needing to swallow their own pride and allowing others to help so the other person can help themself to feel like a person of worth. Otherwise, all you end up with is just a group of people that just happen to live in a geographical location at the same time and that can get ugly.

During the night last night, we had a snowfall of around 2 ½ – 3 inches with ice on the top. It wasn't very much snow, but enough that some shoveling needed to be done. This morning while I was shoveling the snow out of the driveway and all 250+ feet of sidewalk, I had the normal amount of snow removal entrepreneurs in their over sized pickup trucks with ginormous snow blades on the front, stop by to offer their services. I always politely say no to them and that I am needing the exercise. But what I am **thinking** is “I am not some old-out-of-shape lady who is going to keel over from a heart attack because she is shoveling snow. I can still handle a snow shovel and I do it very well. Thank you very much.” :-D

While I was shoveling this morning tho, I had a small car stopped by and the man asked me if he could shovel my drive and sidewalk for me for a certain amount of money. It was someone that I recognized that lived in my neighborhood. I was just about ready to give my “no thank you” speech, when I happened to look in the back seat of the car and saw two little preschool kids. Something just told me to shut-up with my well used speech, swallow my pride, and hire the man to shovel the snow for me. So that is exactly what I did.

When he got out of the car to shovel, so did his little kids. They were there to help Dad and help they did. As they were shoveling, I came into the house and baked a batch of cookies, made some hot chocolate, and took it out to them. As they took their brake to eat the goodies, Dad and I started talking and I learned that he has been unemployed for a couple of years. The mom works part time at a local restaurant but that is the only income that they currently had. He started to tell how he has been feeling very depressed and like a failure because he hasn't been able to provide for his family like he feels he should be doing. Several times I saw him choke back the tears so his kids wouldn't see him crying. I won't go into all the details, but shoveling snow for others was helping him feel a little better about his situation because he felt like he was contributing at least something to meet the needs of his family.

After they rested for a bit and went back to work, I came into the house and called my hubs and asked him if where he worked was hiring. They were. To make a long story short, as of noon today, the Dad is now employed where my hubs works at, in a full time time position with very good benefits. Now we have a neighbor, who not only is able to provide for his family, but also a neighbor that we have been able to build a positive relationship with. (He has already stopped by to say thanks and shake my hand. **smiles**)

I think that is an example of what building a community is about...helping others and allowing others to to help us...even if we have to swallow our pride in order for that to happen. That is the start of a community being formed and not just a neighborhood.

I would encourage you to see what you can do today to help those around you and in doing so, help to build your community. Thank you for visiting my blog. :-)