8 Working Together for a Better World
Kindle in us love’s compassion so that everyone may see
In our fellowship the promise of a new humanity.
—FROM THE HYMN “HEART WITH LOVING HEARTS UNITED”
I RECENTLY ATTENDED a play at my sister’s church. She not only acted in the play but also had assisted in producing it. The proceeds went to support several Muslim refugee families that the church was helping to come settle in Canada. Mennonite churches had joined together all over the region to bring an entire extended family from a refugee camp to settle in Waterloo Region. I was impressed by this act because it was a collective act of caring with no interest or intention for benefit or gain by the churches.
The lunch we enjoyed before the play was provided by the local Muslim community. About fifty Palestinian Canadians had come to see the play and lend their support to this traditional Mennonite church’s cause. It was their way of saying thank-you. I cannot tell you the joy I felt as I ate amazing Middle Eastern food and watched Muslim and Mennonite mothers and grandmothers working side by side. Fathers set tables and chased after children who, though worlds apart, were mingling as if they had been friends for years.
I’m not sure what impressed me more, traditional Muslim families coming to a Christian church to join in a common cause or Mennonite mothers opening a kitchen used most often for cooking potatoes and turkey to make traditional rice, chicken skewers, hummus, and tabbouleh salad.
The play was meant to juxtapose meaningful stories of people who had just returned from a volunteer assignment trying to help resolve conflicts in Israel with humorous stories of people engaged in small but everyday conflicts at home. It was a wonderful play, showing the complexity of conflict and how difficult as well as simple bringing peace to a situation can be. The play concluded with one simple conclusion: selfless giving is at the root of peace.
In these chaotic times, we need more than ever to be working for a better world. This is not to say that there is no good in the world right now. There is a lot of good, and much hope too. But just as a human body breaks down when it is overworked and not cared for, so the earth is ill because of its residents’ unsustainable practices. Environmentally and economically, a sickness has set in, and together we must change the conditions that have caused this illness. In some cases, this change is something that we can help others to agree on doing together, such as limiting the use of fossil fuels or consuming food and buying items that are produced locally. But in most cases, the change must start with us and our communities.
Working for a better world is not only good for the earth; it is also good for us. Some call it “mutual aid” and others “enlightened self-interest.” Volunteers often say that when they serve, they receive far more than they give.
When we work together for a better world, we receive many benefits, including the power of collective altruism and the joy of giving and receiving.
The Power of Collective Altruism
A single tsunami ravages many communities around the world. Amid the horrible aftermath, another sort of tsunami arises as the world unites, giving millions of dollars and tireless support to help those who are suffering. As described in chapter 7, young people absorbed in their very involved lives get up early on a Saturday morning simply because they are asked, and unite to deliver ten thousand pies from a truck to the arena where they will be sold in one of many events that will contribute to raising more than $300,000 that day for world relief. Their work not only looks effortless, but it radiates energy and joy, and all who experience this marvelous scene are rejuvenated.
This is the power of collective altruism. Like a prism concentrating light, when we merge individual altruism and collective purpose/intention/determination/resolve, we create the conditions for an exponential effect for good. This effect often seems to create an energy that fuels the collective resolve. As collective altruism helps the sufferers of a tsunami or raises funds for world relief, it opens hearts, blurring the lines between giving and receiving and forging community.
I have described the experience of belonging in community as being with others over time, prompting mutual acts of caring and the merging of individual identities with the group’s identity. Those doing the work also experience the collective force and energy of the altruism and thus the connection for good. There is just something about working together for the betterment of others or the world in general. A metaphysical bond emerges between people, and in no time complete strangers feel as if they have been connected for a long time.
The Joy of Giving and Receiving
Habitat for Humanity is one of the world’s best-known charities. It does wonderful work, providing housing for impoverished people around the world. When I talk to my friends and clients about this great charity, I often share the other important benefit of its work: its impact on the volunteers who participate in building the houses. When a Habitat house is built, dozens of people volunteer with the person(s) who will receive the house, pouring the foundation, erecting the walls, shingling the roof, finishing the drywall, and laying the carpets. The actual build can be done in just a few days because so many people work together so well.
I have never talked to a Habitat volunteer who hasn’t said that this was a deeply meaningful experience. All feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment as they work as a team. They also describe the sense of community they experienced and speak of how they made lifelong friends after working and eating and enjoying their time together. The ability to work side by side with the family receiving the home made their giving real.
We work together for the good of others not just because it makes us feel good, as some cynics like to observe. The giving-and-receiving relationship provides a form of mutuality and takes the work beyond charity. I have called this “restoring our humanity.” When we are able to express our caring with others, a collective energy has the potential to emerge that opens all of our hearts and turns giving into receiving and receiving into giving. We are able to exist together within the rawness of our shared humanity.
I think of Kate, who belongs to a local Rotary Club, which gives her a wonderful community of like-minded people. They meet each week for lunch to listen to someone who is making a difference in their community. They support young people and raise funds for community projects and for the work of Rotary International. Like many service clubs, they do a lot of good for their community.
Kate had been a member for a long time when she shared the following observations:
Our Rotary Club has become like family to me. This happens when you share as much time together as we do. We are, though, a club dedicated to service, as reflected in our mission, which is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.
There are times, though, when we get tired and start to feel stale. It is hard to keep such a community active. Yet without fail, when we start to feel stodgy, someone will say, “It is time to do a project together.” So together we design and implement something that makes our community better—maybe it is a fundraiser, helping a school, or building a playground.
This work draws us out of one another and into the lives and meaning of others. We feel renewed, hopeful, and positive. Not just because we did something for others—that is for sure part of it—but because we did it together. As we opened ourselves to someone else’s need, we opened ourselves to one another.
And then there’s Nina, who believed deeply in the importance of connecting her friends and neighbors to local farms and the food they produced. First she went to the many farmers she knew and asked if they would sell her fresh and organic produce on a weekly basis. Then she advertised this to her friends.
Every Friday morning, Nina and her father, Wendell, drove to the farms and picked up the produce. Each Friday afternoon, more than one hundred of Nina’s friends gathered at her home, armed with bags and boxes to buy the local produce.
It was a bit like a weekly party: parents brought their children to play together, and strangers became friends and often spent up to an hour longer than they needed to, visiting and enjoying one another. At times, people brought their guitars to play and others some home baking to share.
Many volunteered, as the idea caught on and grew. A community formed around the desire for fresh organic produce and the joy of participating in building a better world.
When we invest in community, a little bit can go a long way toward building a better world. I hope that the following examples will give you the courage to make a difference.
Nick enjoyed his neighborhood but did not feel safe in it. Seven break-ins had happened in two months, with substantial damage each time. Though the police were quick to respond, they admitted that they could not be present twenty-four hours a day. Nick decided to start a neighborhood watch program, designed to “help neighbors watch out for neighbors.” By getting connected with one another, neighbors were able to recognize strangers and any suspicious activity. The program, according to the Ottawa Police Services website, “combats crime in the most effective way—before it starts.” Nick and his neighbors learned to take care of one another and created a safer neighborhood.
Joe is a carpenter who enjoys his neighborhood. He wants to build a workshop where he can store his tools and machines and also complete projects needed for his business. Instead of building it on his own, Joe is hoping to involve his neighbors and make it a community workshop. He envisions a place where ideas as well as tools can be exchanged, where people can visit often and enjoy one another’s company, where a helping hand will be available for those who need it. What an appropriate venue: a workshop where people build community.
Bill sold a large business at a relatively young age. You would think that with all his success and power, his beautiful family, and the capacity to buy anything his heart desired, he would just retire and be happy. But Bill wanted to invest his wealth to build a better world. When Bill was introduced to me, he got right to the point. He wanted to hear my story about how I decided to devote myself full time to building community and to learn firsthand my observations and experiences. Bill could see that joy can come to those who commit themselves to a life of service, using their money to make a difference. He and his wife, Janet, decided to fund the organizations of a dozen people whose work inspired them and to bring these twelve into a community once a year to learn and support one another. Much joy, indeed! Bill then founded an organization called Social Capital Partners and dedicated himself full time to working with young people living in poverty, providing them with the skills, work experience, and connections that would make them job ready.
More Than a Roof (MTR) nurtures joy by building homes for people moving out of poverty. This wonderful organization not only provides affordable shelter but also rebuilds the physical, mental, spiritual, and financial health of residents, and introduces or helps restore healthy peer relationships, including reconnecting with family. Candela Place is an MTR community in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, that supports homeless single people struggling with addiction and/or mental health issues. When I visited there recently, several in that community talked about their successes:
• Jake shared at length how coming to Candela turned things around for him. He has been sober for seven years now, he said, adding that the best way to heal is to get outside yourself, which is what he believes volunteering can do—it can “help you walk in someone else’s shoes for a while.”
• Martha spoke next about her volunteer work in prisons and churches and on the street.
• Then came Tammy, who runs the library; Bill, who manages the community store; and Joan and Sally, who are fantastic painters.
• Gord, a poet, was next, followed by Melissa, who is writing a book.
It is amazing how productive people can be when they have a home.
Rita loves to garden. When the local homeless shelter put out a call for fresh produce, she brought an idea to her church: Could they work together to grow fresh produce for the homeless shelter? Several members of the congregation had land they were not using, and in no time a half-acre of land was prepared. After dialogue with people at the homeless shelter, they found out that beans and corn were a favorite of many. The garden was planted and the produce grown and harvested, with the extras frozen. The homeless shelter now has some of the tastiest and most nutritious beans and corn around, all year long. Rita and her church community enjoyed one another, bonded in the work, and built a deep sense of connection to one another and those in need in their community.
Joe loves to cook almost as much as he loves visiting with people and working for a better world. Joe always thought that there was need for a place where these three loves could happen together. So he started Queen Street Commons in downtown Kitchener, Ontario. His first idea was to serve affordable, locally produced vegetarian food and fair trade coffee. His second idea was to create an informal and inviting space with large tables, a stage, and even movie-projection capability, where people could gather to discuss and enjoy ideas and art. His third idea was to bring together people from many diverse walks of life. Whether they were professionals working downtown, homeless people, or new Canadians, everyone was welcomed and encouraged to volunteer and share their gifts with one another. Joe has created a space for connection. A homeless man suffering from mental illness comes in every day to play the piano, and does so beautifully. Every Thursday, immigrants wanting to learn English come to the Speak English Café and converse with volunteers. Some students come to learn and others just to study on the comfortable furniture. At lunchtime, busy professionals come to eat gourmet vegetarian food or pick up a beautiful coffee. Queen Street Commons—the name says it all.
Is Community Possible?
We have moved along in this book, exploring the four acts of community building that feed into the option of deepening community. The challenge, however, is to go from knowing that deep community is possible to joining together and making it so. It’s our choice to make.