I believe in community.
Over the last year, I have come to realize how very important community is in the every day lives of people. After Moe died, my communities - my friends, my family, my co-workers, even my childhood friends whom I hadn't seen in years - rallied around without hesitation.
My family shared my grief, and grieved with me. My friends took care of me, checked on me, and grieved for me. My co-workers picked up my slack at work, and never made me feel like I should "suck it up" and resume my professional responsibilities. And my childhood friends resumed our relationships, and supported my grief journey in ways large and small.
And all of these groups, they're my tribe. They represent the communities that saved me from my grief without belittling it, who grieved with me and for me, and made me realize that in the very worst year of my life, I was not alone, and had people around me who loved and supported me, sometimes in spite of myself.
People need community. We need it to help us in times of trouble, we need it to help us celebrate our triumphs - we need a community to share our lives.
Our communities change as we grow. We lose contact with our school chums, our brothers and sisters in arms, our workmates. People move into new communities, through work, church, online groups. And each of these communities provide us with the support and sense of belonging we need.
I believe our species would wither and die without our communities. Not only did we evolve to need each other, our emotional make-up requires that we not only need one another, but we help each other, as well.
I'm thankful for this. It makes me whole, in addition to saving me from myself in during the worst year of my life.
This I believe.
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