“What is Community?”
One day, when I was a junior in high school, American Literature class was discussing prejudice. At one point, our teacher asked me, “JoAn, every Asian can play a musical instrument, right?” Of course, I said, “No. That is not true.” But since all of my siblings, including the Korean exchange student we host, and I play a musical instrument—I play the violin, Kate plays the piano, Peter plays the cello, Lisa plays the violin and Joseph plays the trumpet— I could not support my answer with any evidence. “But, my family is musical. Why did you think that?” She answered, “Well, you guys are Asians!” Through my experiences and observations for five years in a foreign nation, which is America, I realized many Americans just assume that since I am Asian, I am smart and musical. To assume that every Asian is smart and plays an instrument is absurd. Even though many Asians are known to be smart and have shown their prominence in music field, there are around 2 billion of us! Because I have small black eyes, “yellow” skin and black hair, people have linked me in the community of smart people and in the community of musicians. I do, though, seem to be part of both communities: I was salutatorian when I graduated from high school and I have played the violin for more than 10 years. These facts are not due to my beings Asian. Why do people make wrong assumptions about me? Why do people always look at me through the stereotypes? Where do the stereotypes come from? People define each other through communities; everybody is in variable kinds of communities that reveal some characteristics about each other. Let’s explore the nature of community and see why and how it works like that. 1. The Foundational Nature of CommunityCommunity is an identity. It defines who you are. Because every community has a specific purpose and nature, through the distinct communities that you are in, people can identify something about your background, interests, situations, dreams, and characteristics: the things that make you you. For example: my friends and other people of my age prefer to call me JoAn, my English name. In contrast, my professors usually call me SungKyung, my Korean and original name. This proves how people in different communities define me from different points of view; my friends define me through communities that I am “voluntarily” in or by traits that I have established, such as my livelihood, my dream to be a cardiac surgeon and my pacifism. On the other hand, professors define me through communities that I am “involuntarily” or naturally in, such as my ethnicity and by the traits that I’ve inherited (I am going to talk about this more specifically later). No matter how different people evaluate me through different communities, it is undeniable that each one of the communities that I am bound with helps to establish the uniqueness of “SungKyung JoAn Kim.”Community is a bond. It binds people together because community is formed by people who share the same, or similar, characteristic. People with similarities can understand each other better. They get along more and better. Finally, they form a community with a distinguishable character and a bond. Among so many communities, nations are the biggest communities and are known for the strongest bonds. Even when the same nationality is the only thing that people share, it can still unite them. In 2002, World Cup was held in Korea and Japan. Whenever there was a game between Korea and another nation, innumerable Koreans assembled in public places. We all wore red shirts—it was the slogan that we chose, “the Reds”—, Taegeuki—the national flag of Korea—, and traditional instruments that make a big sound. All together, we shouted for the victory of Korea. Even my American history teacher from high school, who was traveling in Korea then, confessed that he felt like he was almost Korean because so strongly felt the national unity of the Koreans for in their desire for their nation’s victory. Community is cooperation, concession, and having your own stout supporters. A community can begin with a group of people with similar interests or backgrounds. To constitute a sound community with healthy structures, the members must cooperate with each other, accept and understand each other’s differences. Sometimes, people in such communities need to compromise if the community is to survive. But, when you think about the supporters that you are going to get by cooperating, truly, it is an awesome bargain. Few weeks ago, I had the first orchestra concert. My family could not make it because it is too far away which I perfectly understood but still disappointing. Then, on the concert day, few of my friends from the church came to the concert! They said I am one of the valuable people to them from our church and how could they not come to see me. I felt so supported and during the concert, I could not perform any better. This is the nature of community. The ideal community is described in Acts 2: 44-47: “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” When you consider others even before yourself, community can be a cozy shelter where you can relax and be happy with people who understand you. 2. The Types of CommunityThere are two types of community: one that you are in without a choice; another that you pursue to be in. Like nationality that we discussed about, there are communities that you are in as soon as you are born, such as your ethnicity, gender, age, hair color…etc. These communities are involuntarily determined for you. For example, I was born in South Korea on April 5, 1988 under the parents, Taedoo Kim and Sukhui Kim. Nobody can alter this fact: this is the innate background that is given only to me on the entire earth. This fact binds me in the community of South Korean. Especially, in America that is called a “melting pot,” the nationality identifies me the first. The fact that I am born in 1988 has led me to meet specific groups of people and form specific communities. For example, I was the class of 2007 when I graduated from high school: I am in the community of the class of 2007 of Center Grove High School. Right now, I am a freshman in Loyola University Chicago, and I am in the community of the class of 2011. If I was born in 1998, not 1988, the people and friends around me could not have been the same. Another type of community is where you voluntarily involve yourself according to your interests: your occupation as a Japanese food cook, your hair style as a hippie, your anger toward ill-treatment of animals, your status as an immigrant…etc. You work to be in these communities, and these become the traits that you establish for yourself. You have to prove that you are qualified to be in these communities. These communities exist within the larger communities, which nobody has control over, by people sharing the common interests and by people perceiving themselves as distinct in some respect from others. Benjamin Carson could be the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital—the leader of the top medical community— since he was only 33 years old because he continuously strove to be. There were a lot of hardships. But Mrs. Carson who always encouraged Ben by saying that “I believe and know that you have a potential to be a great person,” he overcame the bad predictions of his colleagues, went to Yale University and finally became a neurosurgeon which is one of the hardest occupation, so one of the hardest communities to be in, in the world. 3. The Newly Born Communities in 21st Century. Try to type “community” in Google and you will be surprised if you have the same mindset as I do. The first result you will see is the definition of community on Wikipedia. That is an ordinary pattern, so no surprise. But, the second one you will see is “YouTube-Broadcast yourself.” What? YouTube? How is YouTube related to community that Google ranked it as the second most relevant result for my search of community? YouTube is the website where people, usually young, express their ideas and share the information they have. Actually, it has been forming as a massive international community because here, you can express what you want to share or show to others without any restriction. After the revolutionary invention of computer and internet, now, the communities do not be confined by distance and time difference. For example, I often talk to my friends in Korea through MSN even though there is as long as 14 hours time gap! So, if I chat with one of my friends around 9 pm on Monday night sitting on my desk in Chicago with moonlight, it is 11 am on Tuesday morning in Korea with sunshine. Wow! However, because these communities are formed without any restrictions or specific rules, and you can get out of the community easily whenever you want, the bonding and responsibility toward the communities formed in internet can be weak—of course, some internet communities have stronger bonds than an actual face- to- face communities. Under the ID of anonymity, people curse each other, put up embarrassing pictures of others and invade others’ privacy without any guilty feelings and without knowing that the person and his/her mind they cursed will get wounded greatly. Another horrible result of the formation of communities with high technology is paparazzi. I feel so sorry for some actors and actresses for being too famous. They do not have privacy. Even though the stuffs they do are wrong, disgusting and they should not do it, the weight of embarrassment and accusation afterward is not comparable to what normal people go through after they’ve done the same thing. Everybody is born into many communities. Everybody is involved in some communities involuntarily and voluntarily. Community is formed by the people who share the same, or at least similar, purpose. Every community has a distinct characteristic. So, by being in distinct communities, you establish your identity. Community is a bond that ties you to specific group of people, place, events…etc. Without community, there is nothing that proves who you are. It is where you get heart-ful support. Mark Twain said, “The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession.” Yes, as a member of human being and as a member of several communities, let’s be little more responsible and thoughtful to protect our most precious possession, community.
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