We all know a community is a group of people who share values, emotions, bla bla,bla. All are right but did we ever think that an act of empathy and selflessness is what makes a community something special. I heard a story, to be specific an incident from a friend and it just settled deep down in my heart.
The story...
The Nilgiris hills provide a home to a lot of communities. Each community has its own culture, tradition, and practices which they follow with reverence. One such community has this practice; whenever a person gets sick and people go to visit them, they slide their hands under the sick person’s pillow before leaving the place as a tradition. After days when the sick person feels better and picks their pillow, they find money piled under the pillow.
This tradition is practiced till today, people in the community feel that the sick person may not be in a state to earn and that the hospital bills and other medical needs might add up to the burden. In order to lower the burden, members in the community with no compulsion, come forward to help the sick person. What's more fascinating and beautiful is that they empathize with the person on the other side and understand that getting money right away with their own hands will feel awkward. So in order to save the other person from humiliation, they slide in money without the other person realizing it.
Community impact goes a long way...
This is exactly how an actual brand community should also work; it should empathize with the other members of the community naturally. If a support community cultivates such habits, rituals, and traditions that make the community awe-worthy. This incident just springs up so much learning for me.
This beautiful act pours kindness and empathy, but along with it, it also shows humility. People wanting to help are good but people wanting to help without anyone knowing it is way more than just good. This lowers the pressure on people who want to contribute a small amount. Making it comfortable for every single person in the community. A community that puts others before themself creates a safe space for all to contribute according to their level of knowledge and learning with no fear of judgment.
This is what a community does...
This is what a community does to the lives of people who are part of it. It caters to needs, helps at times of crisis, aims at making the other person’s life have joy, stands beside and lets you know that there are people around to support, that you are not in scarce of a helping hand.
In the above story, the community showed its love not as individuals but as one whole community, people did not put money with their name written on it, they just gave it to support. This is proof that there is no “I/me” in a community
A community that holds good tradition is immortal…
A community and its members realizing its value stands to be proof for changing people’s lives.
A community should have traditions and rituals that are so good and value-driven that it keeps passing on from one generation to another. Such traditions are not just a practice but are a way to seed emotions, and values of something they are part of. With traditions like these, you get to make your community immortal.
Community is made for a bigger purpose, a purpose to make others' lives better.