Responsibility and Community

Our house conversation last week got me thinking about the role of responsibility in a community. Members of a household community, for example, may have simple, specific responsibilities such as washing the dishes, taking out the trash, buying groceries, or cooking dinner.
The household functions best when each member performs his or her responsibilities well. Members probably feel varying degrees of obligation and/or annoyance regarding their responsibilities - doing the dishes used to be my most hated chore at home - but they all understand that everyone's role is necessary in making things work smoothly.

Things get a little more complicated when I think about my responsibility to a broader community. My town, my state, my country, and the world can all be considered communities that are in need. Just like in a smaller community, the problems that exist in broader communities prevent that community from functioning well and from being a healthy, just, and caring place to live. However, these problems - hunger, homelessness, poverty, discrimination - can't be solved easily. They are not simple, specific tasks like washing dishes. And there isn't anyone to play the role of parent, delegating responsibilities and checking in to make sure tasks get completed.

I know I want to help the problems I see in these broad communities I belong to, but where do my responsibilities lie? Do they lie in my home community, a place I once desperately wanted to escape but toward which I now feel a fond attachment? Or do they lie here in Northfield, a place that has begun to feel more like "home" for me than anywhere else? My head starts spinning when I think about how many places and people across the country and around the world could use some compassion. Where do I start?

The best I can do, I think, is to remember that there are many like me in all of the communities I belong to - people who want to enact change, people who want to use their privilege for good, people who ask themselves the very same questions I am asking now. My responsibility might not be to a particular place; rather, my responsibility may be to direct my energy toward whatever issue aligns with my skills and passions. If enough people in enough places do likewise, I think our global community would be taking a step in the right direction.