It Takes a Village

For the past several weeks, I have had the opportunity to take a more active role as part of a young woman's "village." I saw morning hours that I prefer not to see as I woke to deliver her to school on time and then raced to finish things here at the office so that I could be there in the pick-up line. We worked on homework together and I struggled to come up with meals appropriate for a 15-year-old's pallet. My experience of the past few weeks prompted a great deal of reflection...on my own childhood, on the value of community, on our obligation to others.

I was raised in Shiocton, Wisconsin, population 805. It was, very literally, a village, and the care I felt extended far beyond simply that of my own parents. I felt cared for by my neighbors, my teachers, my coaches - they all knew my family and knew the values my parents wanted to instill in me, expecting no less in return from my parents for their children. I was raised by a "village," and it was this experience that shaped my ideals about community and my obligation to others.

People say the world is getting smaller - there is greater access to information, far more mobility as people travel across continents with ease, trends spread more quickly. Yet, in 2005, when I moved to Chicago to join the staff of the Darst Center, Chicago's 2.7 million people certainly didn't feel smaller. While I look around and there are wounds of war in the Middle East and so many of us remain unaffected, it doesn't feel smaller. While civil unrest rages in Ferguson and so many of us are able to ignore, it doesn't feel smaller. While disparities in education provide opportunities for only some, it doesn't feel smaller.

It is in these times that I search for that sense of "village." It is in these times that I am so very grateful for the mission of the Darst Center, a mission founded on the courage of one man; a mission celebrating the passion and risks of many; a mission that continues to challenge me to be more inclusive in my "us;" and a mission that invites all of us to see beyond distance, beyond difference, and live as village.