We Need Community
#5 - WE NEED COMMUNITY
Years ago, in a college English class, the professor assigned the task of writing a 15-page research paper. My chosen topic was exploring various counseling techniques for teens and proving which one was the most effective for the teenage cohort and why. In preparation for my topic approval meeting with my professor, I jotted down a brief fictional conversation between a couple teens and a counselor as an example technique. She encouraged me to take this idea further into the creative realm. With her push and backing and my peers’ constructive criticism, the final paper consisted of a mock group counseling session written in a conversational style. Embedded in this work of fiction was the meat, the research nuggets as paragraphed footnotes. The writing community, whether in an educational setting or a writer’s own gathered posse, is always willing to lend an ear. WE NEED COMMUNITY. We are better for it, becoming better versions of ourselves.
At our church, we have weekly groups that get together to study the Bible (God’s Word - all about community - the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful), pray together, and share our lives. It has always been helpful to me, to talk with someone who is going through a situation similar to mine. While it’s never exactly the same, it always gives me this feeling of “Whew! I’m not the only one.” No one wants that feeling of aloneness. We were created to live in community. WE NEED COMMUNITY. We are encouraged through life because of it.
Over the years, I’ve volunteered in many a great program: teaching English to International students, leading children and teen groups to love the world around them through missions, reading news and other stories to those blind and print impaired, singing, leading and speaking with women’s groups, and… In each group, I bonded with others through a common interest, as we became a micro-community. At the beginning, I was always the newbie. Through time and gained experience, I often became one of the “go-to” volunteers or even one of the leaders. WE NEED COMMUNITY. We meet new people and serve others in community.
VoiceOver is the same. We are able to relate to our fellow voice actors in ways that others, who do not talk to themselves all day in small padded spaces, wouldn’t understand. Getting angry, talking back to your mom, exuding charm, cheering on a friend, crying, making animal sounds, eating a granny smith apple, using nose spray, using a couple different accents, throwing in a few words from a couple other languages, breathing weirdly, staring at waves on a computer screen, and stopping everything for a few moments while the neighbor’s dog barks at the mailman, are not things a regular person does in a tiny space all alone. WE NEED COMMUNITY. We learn and grow and help others in community.
