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. :-)
