What a Community Gets it Right

I truly believe that community is one of the most beautiful things when done right. A few weeks ago, I had to hop on four planes (ugh!) and was reminding myself to be brave and overcome my fears of flying. But then I decided to change my way of thinking about bravery. Bravery isn't unnecessarily an act of overcoming fears, but rather having a community and knowing when to lean into it. So I sat on an airplane sandwiched between Beth-Anne and Kate, who walked me through every bump in the ride. Side note: I'm possibly the worst person to travel with, so they were amazing to stick it out with me. Seriously my heart was so full of gratitude after we landed because I had them with me, and they were every bit my community in a time when I needed it!

I saw a beautiful example of community in my twitter feed that I wanted to share with you. I attended Blissdom a few weeks back, and knew Amber Riley from glee would be there, so I started following her on twitter.  A few days ago, I saw her tweet this:

Before I write anything else, I should clarify in saying that I am in no way a die hard fan of glee nor would I ever call myself a "gleek. I do watch the show, particular for the music, and have been known to occasionally run/workout to the music. I don't follow them all on twitter, but after seeing what they all tweeted, I have a new found appreciation for the cast.

I saw Amber's tweet come up in my feed and decided to see the back story to it. It turns out Cory Monteith checked himself into rehab to get some help for substance abuse. The point of this post is not about his need to get help, but rather about the community that surrounded him in a time of need. I honestly don't care how famous any of them are, or how much money they make. They really got down to the heart of community, which is that when one falls, we all fall.

In a day and age where social media is all the rage, this is what community looks like: 

If that's not community, I don't know what is. Community is not about judging someone for their decisions but rather offering a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on, and a listening ear. Yesterday I wrote about being always kind to one another and my inbox was overflowing with how your lives have been changed by acts of kindness from others. The heart behind that post was that you don't always know what people are going through or how much they are hurting, but love them anyways. Be the community to others that you would want for yourself.