We Are a Community

I recently met a psychologist at a social event and asked her, “what is the most frequent problem that people come to you with?”  She said, “depression and anxiety”, by far.

Today, people are lonelier and more depressed than ever.  Community has become harder and harder to find and maintain.  We Swing dancers are so fortunate to have this amazing community.  I personally am very grateful for it.

Recently, we had a couple in the local Swing dance community endure a terrible tragedy – the loss of an infant child.  I didn’t know them, but I saw such an outpouring of heartfelt sympathy from this community that it made me stop and reflect on our community and what it means to me.

Swing dancing is not just something we do for fun every week. We Swing dancers are a community.

For some of us, it is one of several communities we might belong to. For others, it is the only community.

We mourn together and we celebrate together

We forgive those who have wronged us, and we apologize when we have wronged others.

We don’t hold grudges.

We help members of our community in need.  I’ve seen some amazing examples of this.

We don’t exclude people or have cliques.

We welcome beginners and newcomers.

We are considerate to each other.

We watch out for each other, physically and emotionally.

We are not just Swing dancers.  We are a community.  This is both an observation and a reminder, mainly to myself.  We have an amazing community. – Brian