Frequent contributor Susan Dworski, sent us this image and a short note:

 Sometimes a single image is so perfectly descriptive it tells a whole story. This post card was given to me last week by a friend returning from the mountains of northern Japan. Apparently, in this village whenever a family needs to replace their thatched roof the entire village sets aside a day and goes to work re-roofing the house in a massive, cooperative effort without pay.
Don’t you wish our Congress worked like this? Or even our building coops or neighborhood associations?
That Japanese community is doing the equivalent of barn raisings that used to routinely take place in farm communities (and still do in some): when a family needed a barn, the whole community would turn out to build it, and then sit down for a communal supper.
oldstonehousemuseum.org
oldstonehousemuseum.org
In our modern world, it often seems there’s less of that community feeling because it means making time in busy schedules to help AND being determined to find common ground. But we see evidence of community everywhere, often in unexpected ways.
Dig this story of Elvis Summers who built a tiny house for a homeless woman who had been sleeping on the street in his neighborhood. 

According to Tiny House Talk, decided he would build the micro house on wheels so they can move it every 72 hours to comply with local police. His tiny house has inspired a Go FundMe Campaign to build tiny houses for homeless people.
Summers practiced community by helping one person and unleashed a movement…
Rajesh Kumar Sharma and Laxmi Chandra teach at a free school write on black boards run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India, writing lessons on blackboards painted on a building wall…
Altaf Qadri / AP
Altaf Qadri / AP

 

Which reminds us that community starts with one person reaching out, taking action…and then another, and another.
Altaf Qadri / AP
Altaf Qadri / AP
Indian school via Photoblog

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