The power of community

Last week my husband's family suffered a loss. His uncle passed away at the young age of 46. I have not experienced much loss nor attended many memorial services in my life. As I found myself surrounded by my husband's very large family in church, I was pleasantly surprised by how moving it was. I thought about it a bit afterwards. How emotional the service was for me and how comforted I was being there. I am not a religious person and so I knew the christian aspects of the service were not what moved me. As I thought about it, I realized what it was. It was the strong showing of community, support and comfort that I felt around me.

As a socialist, I have always had a deep belief in the power of community and collectivity. It is one of my strongest hates of the capitalist system, how it separates and isolates humans from each other, something that goes against our very nature. Capitalism pushes us to be individuals and think only about ourselves, that is how one must get ahead. You can't look out for the little guy or gal, only yourself. As I sat in church last week I realized how sad it is that our capitalist society misses out on one of the most powerful feelings we as human beings have to offer, the power of the collective shoulder, our collective strength and how we are all connected through our humanity, a humanity that capitalism so desperately wants to destroy. That day in church our collective strength was anything but dead, no is was very much alive and strong. Just imagine how we would feel all the time if we did not have to fight against the individualism that capitalism pushes. What doors would be open when the burdens we shoulder were collectivized and dealt with through a community organized under socialism.

Allyson