(An article I wrote for the Jan 2025 edition of ‘Voices of Laurel’ – See links at the bottom for the growing database of communities & how to submit yours.)

Each of us starts life in a “community” called family. And as we grow, we naturally become part of more and more communities: Aunts, uncles, cousins; Church, and its sub-communities, like choir or committees serving to those in need; School, our class grade, school groups & friend groups; Hobby and recreation groups like sports leagues, motorcycle groups, Scout troops, candle makers, and book clubs; Public service like soup kitchens, historical societies, charities; And the list goes on.

I like to think of all these communities as a rain forest ecosystem: flowers, birds, trees, monkeys, fruits, insects, jaguars, canopy, undergrowth, water, air, sun. Deep, rich, interwoven, interdependent. Communities overlapping, mutually enriched, vibrant, teeming with life and resilience.

But modern life comes with its challenges: commutes, homework, dishwashers needing repair, working late, lawn mowing, bank password resets that still don’t work. And then there’s the competitions for attention: TV & movies on demand, football & baseball season, video games, social media scrolling, the latest news updates.

It can be easy to find ourselves sliding into a mindset that ‘we’ll go out and connect with others’ later, it’s ‘just one more thing’ when the rest of life feels like a lot already. And self-care is important: we need to have cared for ourselves so that we can care for others.

But there is an odd converse too: Connecting with and caring for others, strangely and somehow stirs a part core inside us. It flips a switch and lets juices flow within our souls that aren’t touched by or activated in any other way. Ultimately, we need to reach into and expand that part of us if we are to be who we truly are — We are social beings, meant to explore and to become, precisely through our interactions with others, in community with them.

Which leads to a further realization too: We are community - community isn’t ’out there’, it’s us. Ain’t nobody here but us people. What we do, is what our community is, you, me, and all of our neighbors, taken together. Whether it’s taking a couple extra minutes to shovel the sidewalk for our elder neighbor next door, asking our neighbor across the street to help retrieve an Amazon delivery when we’re out of town, sharing about our family’s health ups & downs, offering some fresh made iced tea to the contractors, actively slowing down at the crosswalk near the grocery store — each one of these small acts, these are community. Part of the rich tapestry.

And a natural next step is joining a community with others. Whether it’s the new Reader’s Theater group at the Selbourne House and open to all, where members rehearse scripts under the able direction of Mr. Charles Clyburn, then do dramatic reading performances for the community. Or the indoor radio-controlled car racing hosted at Hobby Works that starts in January. Or the Hooked on Crochet group formed by Heidi Temple that meets Sundays at Panera. Or the Laurel 4th of July Committee that puts on such a fantastic event each year, but who themselves are in need small and big helping hands to ensure this tradition can continue for our town next year.

So a note of encouragement: There is so much good going on around our wonderful town, and so many wonderful people. But I also observe communities growing thin, and folks searching for the depth they know can’t come from behind our screens, but only from authentic, patient human connection in the groups in which we can share our small moments and the path of our life lived together.

Ultimately, our community needs you, needs me, needs all of us together — a community of communities, teeming with life and resilience, mutually enriched, and vibrant.

(Note: Help build a living list of ‘community groups’ that call Laurel their home — It’ll provide folks a wonderful insight into the rich tapestry we have, and also be a place folks can come to find a community to connect to. To have your group added, please complete this simple online form. And thank you to the many communities and community members that make up our hometown Laurel!!)