Community

 So much of our lives are spent

in keeping other people out.

We have private rooms, private houses,

private clubs and so on.

Of course, there are times 

when everybody needs to be alone.

Yet there is a sense in which our size

as human beings can be measured by the

circles we draw to take other people in.

The smaller the circle, the smaller the person.

A strong person isn't afraid

of people who are different.

A wise person welcomes them.

By shutting them out we deny ourselves

the riches of other people's experience.

We starve our minds, and harden our hearts.

When we name our brothers and sisters 

we draw no circle smaller

than the first one ever drawn on the earth.

                                                - Anonymous