Dear Aimery Keith Lewis #12
Building like-minded community
Hello Aimery, I hope you have had a wonderful week! I noticed that you had the chance to visit Niagara Falls recently. I hope you had a magical time. I have been there many times in my life; it is an interesting place. It is quite pretty, all that water rushing down; awe-inspiring as well. I had a pretty good week:
Picked lots of mangoes, volunteered at Second Star Sailing, got a delicious double from Roti King, picked some tamarind at the beach, ate a ton of soup, and even went to the T-Shirt Mas Carnival Parade:
This is just the beginning of the parade. I am not much of a fan of crowds, but it was fun to see everyone having a good time and to get some snacks while I was out there. I stayed out for the beginning of the afternoon while everyone was setting up, and then by the time the parade was starting, I was tired and ready to go home. I had a good time, though.
What I wanted to talk to you about this week, though, is the importance of building a like-minded community. Community is not found, it is built. It is built by stepping out of one’s comfort zone and by supporting and loving others. Community makes going through life more manageable. We, as humans, were not meant to go through life alone, and having a community to go through life with is what makes the journey so enjoyable. That community can consist of family, friends, neighbours, coworkers, and a mix of other groups as well. Beyond just having a community, though, is having a like-minded community. One that shares the same worldview and is walking in a similar direction to you in life.
Attracting like-minded members into your community seems to require more intention than building a general community. Asking someone to be your mentor is a great way to try and take a step towards setting a good foundation. Also, trying to join groups that attract people with similar core values can be a great step. When you are young, aside from family, your community is generally the people you go to school with, play sports with, or do extracurricular activities with. You might feel as though you are most like-minded with your family because of the similar upbringing. As you grow, your personality expands and gets more unique. The connection you feel to your family is still strong (hopefully), but you may not feel as though are are always the most like minded. Just because someone likes the same sports team as you, or does the same activities, doesn’t mean they are on the same pathway in life. As you grow, it becomes more difficult and important to connect with people to walk through life with, or you will many times find yourself walking alone.
The pathway doesn’t need to be crowded, but it is nice to have a hand to hold when walking through the peaks and/or valleys in life.
I am blessed to have a handful of people I would consider to be “like-minded” in my life. Gramgrams is probably #1. Even though she is no longer with us, I still feel as though I connect to her most in life. #2 is probably Nana. Some of your uncles are pretty great to walk through life with as well <3.
It is also important to connect with this like-minded community in person! What I am working on now in life is trying to connect with my community more intentionally. You would think that living on a tiny island like Antigua would make it super easy! Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be the case. While everyone is pretty close together by distance, humans are quite complex. Our worldviews differ greatly, and it isn’t always easy to find like-minded community members when there just aren’t many people around. Slowly, but surely, I am connecting with some pretty cool people, though, and I know that it isn’t something that should come easily. I am building a home: for both of us.
I pray that the legacy I build here is one that you are able to be supported by.
Love, Dada