Real Life takes place in community

by Desmond Baker

I spend most of my real life waiting around for my real life to begin.

Truth be known, if any of us live our lives long enough we will eventually discover that a good chunk of it (maybe like 75% of it) consists of the “not about me” and the “not about now”. Which means that only a very small percentage of what you or I call “my life’ is actually about you or I. And most of what is going on around us right now has less to do with the “here and now” and more to do with our future condition than we are probably aware of or care to admit. This also means that life, as it turns out, is mostly made up of things largely outside of our control, making it frequently less than what we would like it to be and most often lacking in luster. So much so that we can slip into fantasizing that this very pedestrian life we are leading is just the one we are forced to live while waiting for our real life to begin. But real life can never be found by willing things to be different or by plotting plans to escape. Real life begins to happen when we stop dreaming about the better life we should be leading today and start working towards a better tomorrow for those around us. Real living takes place among real and tangible objects and to actual and practical purposes. Real life takes place in community.

I spend most of my real life waiting around for my real life to begin.

                                                                                                        – John Wayne

It is a wonderful thing to live in the context of community. Among the friendly and familiar we find the stimulus, encouragement and challenge we need to transform the everyday and the ordinary into an exciting tomorrow. In community we find connection to the things that really matter, which turns out to be a very short list. Most of the things on it are things that cannot be produced or contrived. They are things small and beautiful that grow naturally and without our urgings. And of course people are on the list because people really matter. But perhaps more important than the list or what’s on it is the knowledge that your real life in community is going on right now, right where you are, you only need to discover it and then live your discovery. And what is it you will discover? You will discover that real life is not about where you are in life but how you live wherever you are. As for the signpost? Well this one is pointing towards the Globe – Miami area. Where you can always find a community rich in the things that really matter. A real live place to be just waiting around for you and your real life to begin.

Good Journeys.

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