Was I Secretly Voted Out of the Community?

Community by definition is a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. To have a sense of community typically means a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members' needs will be met through their commitment to be together.

I have read about communities coming together to help each other. I have seen it in the news during tragedies. I survived a direct hit from a tornado and I experienced it personally. (It was a small tornado, but it still messed everything up). I have a sense of community and I know that many others do as well.

I am finding however, that I am starting to lose faith in the sense of community that I thought others had. I have been working so hard, with a few others, for a while, trying to gather my “community” together for a cause that is near to my heart and frankly scares me beyond belief. I thought that by appealing to Facebook folks and starting a blog that I could sort of rally the troops together to complete a simple task of finding a large group of people to donate a dollar each. I reached out to everyone I could think of and then those I have never thought of. I even appealed to the community which I currently live in. They seem to only care about minor vandals, pool chairs and other gripes. All valid I assume. Much to my dismay, the response from these two groups has been much less than I thought it would be. This blog has generated two donations while Facebook has achieved (and this is Facebook viewers only) about 15. There have been more from others and those that have donated have been generous. Overall, I am failing to see the sense of community that I was hoping for. Is it there and I am missing it? Or maybe, I’m just not included. Maybe pancreatic cancer isn’t a big deal to others. It wasn’t to me and I feel bad that it took a life altering event to make me see the reality.

I believe that there is good in everyone and that God gave each and every one of us a generous heart. I am just wondering if, for some, the compassion, the love for others outside their family has been buried so far under life that it has been put on the backburner. Life does get in the way. I am guilty of and I am ashamed. I tend to wear my heart on the outside but sometimes, I get so wrapped up in my own woes that I forget that others have woes too. 

Pancreatic cancer changed that for me. Disaster, catastrophes, diseases, illnesses happen to other people, not me. Clearly that isn’t true anymore. It never was true. Two things have happen in my life that makes me see differently now. Bad things can happen to anyone. Pancreatic cancer can happen to anyone. It doesn’t play favorites. I am not so special that I am immune to these things. Someone is going to be challenged in some way and it could be me, it could be you. We are all equal.

There is a community out there that is willing to walk this journey with me to raise a million dollars and to stop a catastrophe from happening to another family. It isn’t the people in my neighborhood and I am thinking it isn’t on Facebook. Doesn’t matter really. There are people out there like me who wear their hearts on the outside. 

I will keep searching. 

I hope I have struck a nerve in some people here. I have strong feelings and sometime they spill out. If you knew what a person goes through who has pancreatic cancer, if you knew what that person looked like the day they died, you would cry. Maybe you would be moved to donate, maybe it would scare you. 

I am auctioning a homemade quilt on ebay. All of the money from the winning bidder will be donated. http://www.ebay.com/itm/320959161789 Maybe you need to receive if you intend to give. That’s fine, money is money and the more we can raise the more people we can save.

I will keep at it.

I hope you see the point I am trying to make. It takes a community to solve problems. This is a huge problem and I need to solve it. Please, take five minutes and donate or bid on the quilt. I have said it many times but it is worth repeating over and over. My mom could move mountains. I saw her do it over and over again. I have never done it, but I intend (with your help) to move this mountain. Show me your sense of community. Validate my belief that people are at their core good and generous.

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/evamckinney/KeeptheMemoryAlive