Being the Blessed Community
When my 94 year old Dad tells stories about the Depression years and the time of rationing during WWII he inevitably ends up highlighting memory after memory of how people took care of people, family took care of family, and communities took care of each other. Yes, he talks about not having much, about how little money and resources were readily available and about how you made something out of nothing at all. Everything was kept to be reused in another way, nothing was thrown away and time was taken to mend, repair and restore . . . 'disposable' just was not an option. Yet, more than anything else of which he speaks regarding those times, Dad speaks of relationships: parents and children, neighbors and strangers, those who had something sharing with those who didn't . . . and the list goes on and on. Those were times which galvanized communities and families, times which shaped the collective spirit and imagination of nations and cultures, times which forged strength...