The Community Course
Part 1 - The Significance of the Community
Part  1   2   3   4      Chapter 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9

9. An Approach to a Solution of the Problem of the Community

New Synthesis of Community
There is possible a new synthesis of small community life. While recovering the unity which tends to emerge when all the people live and work and learn and play together, and develop common community interests, as in the primitive communities of ancient and medieval times, this new synthesis will include also the universality, the culture, the critical-mindedness, the sophistication, of the city and of specialized functional groups. The new synthesis will take advantage of technical developments, in communication, transportation, power transmission, and in other fields. It will make very general use of specialized organizations for special pur­poses. But also it will strive to see the community as a unified whole, not just as an aggregation of men and of special interests and organizations. People again may live and work with and for all the members of the community, and may have the deep emotion­al satisfaction which comes from common experience, association, and memory.

The wider and more numerous contacts of the present day need not destroy community traditions, but may make possible the conscious creation of greater tradi­tions. The community can be a reservoir for the preservation and transmission of basic culture, and on a higher level than at any time in the past.

Community: A Fundamental Element
A clear concept of the community as a fundamental element in human affairs--­as a way of life and an attitude toward life--cannot be counted on to spring up spontaneously. The idea of self-conscious, critical design for the small community, with a spirit of universality instead of provincialism, and with a conscious striving for a sense of proportion, will develop slowly, and must be transmitted by the con­tagion of both word and example. In the long history of numberless communities that concept seldom has emerged. When it has appeared, as in the founding of Greek colonies, in the origin of the Hebrew state, and in the settlement of New England and Pennsylvania, not to mention similarly significant undertakings in ancient East Indian civilizations, the results have been important in world history.

Small Community as Source
The small community should see itself, not as isolated from larger societies and as living for itself alone, but as the source of community life and spirit in city, region, state and nation, and in the family of nations. Whatever community characteristics these larger cities have, those traits will have originated in small community relationships. Therefore, as the seed bed of society the small community has a great responsibility to be true to its highest possibilities, for only in that way can it be true to the larger societies. To carry this truth to the ultimate, "If a man love not his neighbor, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?' Except as a person is a good member of his local community he probably is not a good citizen of the nation. To work at creating a good community is not a retreat from national or world affairs, but the most vital way to contribute to them.

Utilizing Organizations
The small community should use and recognize special or functional organizations, such as cultural, scientific, professional, business, trade union, and agricultural associations, as well as its total-way-of-life or community organization. It should welcome and encourage pioneers who advance to new positions for which the community as a whole is not yet ready. There should be recognition of and respect for individuality. There should be deliberate planning for active but orderly step-by-step transition from things as they are to community relations as they might be.

Elements of a Community Program - 11 steps
From the old organic community and from the modern outlook this new synthesis can borrow the elements of its purpose and program, seeking for unity, fellowship, and a sense of good proportion, so that the community shall be united in the aim of making possible for each of its members a full and varied development of his life according to the needs of the community as a whole and of his own individual genius. The following are some elements of a program to realize that purpose:

1.      The development of neighborliness, with mutual good will, helpfulness, tolerance, and personal acquaintance.

2.      A budget of community interests on which the community can act together as a unit; development of the best possible basis of unified social purpose; and a policy of common efforts to common ends.

3.      Common, united representation in outside relationships and issues which affect the community as a whole.

4.      A policy of free, open-minded, critical inquiry; with the habit of striving for unity through sincere, patient, tolerant inquiry, rather than through compulsion or arbitrary authority.

5.      The largest possible agreement on ethical principles, with conscious development of common ethical standards; not to interfere with pioneer standards or sincere and tolerable divergences of individuals.

6.      Common community programs of education, cultural and social life, recreation, health, and other major community interests.

7.      Recognition of community interest in land and improvements, both public and private, through programs of zoning, etc.

8.      The development of co-operative community effort or group co-operative effort for supplying basic economic needs where the general welfare can be advanced thereby; including community-owned and operated utilities, where the public welfare requires.

9.      The habit of regularly meeting together as a community without division into social and economic classes, for the discussion of general and specific community problems, and for general community recreation and acquaintance, and of working together as a community of people who have cast their lot together and who will stand or fall together in working out common problems.

10.  The maintenance of a wholesome balance between community life in which the entire community acts together, and individual, family, or smaller group life where diversity of individuality is recognized and respected.

11.  The beginning point for community development is person-to-person relationships. Every person can learn the fundamentals of community life by learning to live in harmony and good will with the persons next to him. Almost every problem of the community, state, and nation, is met with on a small scale in our relationships with people closest to us. This is not a rhetorical expression, but a statement of specific fact. Unless we can be successful in those relationships we have not yet mastered the art of building a community. We need not wait for great programs. Each person in his day-by-day relationships can be mastering the art of community.

Regardless of the form of government and of society, most of our contacts from week to week and from year to year are these firsthand personal relations with people close to us. If these relationships are fine, then the greater part of our lives is fine, and that fineness will constantly infect the community and all social units beyond the community.