Forget how you feel about where we are as a society today. Instead, close your eyes and picture the perfect community — a community where everyone’s needs are met, everyone’s voices are heard and everyone feels safe.

A perfect community is where everyone’s needs are met

How would people work together? If someone were guilty of breaking the law, how would they be punished? What would forgiveness look like? 

Now take a look at the world as you see it existing today. 

Are your community’s needs being met?

Does it look and feel like a world where people’s needs are being met? Or does it resemble one where people feel threatened? 

Is it a place where people treat each other with love and compassion? Or is your world filled with cynicism, judgment and doubt?

What a perfect community looks like

Imagine a world where everyone’s needs are met. In this world, you are able to act from a place of love, instead of fear. This is the power of a community where everyone feels safe, seen, and heard.

When you feel safe, seen and heard, you don’t have to raise your voice. You don’t view things happening in the external world as a personal attack. You don’t feel like you have to tear everything down. 

What a broken community looks like

When we live in a state of fear, it’s hard to lead with love. We fall into the pattern of seeing people as criminals vs. neighbors whose needs aren’t being met. We get so focused on our needs (e.g., “I need a gun to protect my family.”) that we forget we might be able to meet our needs by meeting the needs of others. For example, if we lift our neighbors out of poverty, we remove the need to steal. 

Fear-based reactions play to our lowest instincts. They come from a place of deep insecurity. Fear makes us act irrationally. It clouds our senses and judgments, leading to decisions, words and actions that we may regret. This is why it’s crucial to strive for a community where everyone’s needs are met. 

How do we move away from fear-based reactions?

When we can’t view Facebook posts, art, literature, or news reports without feeling like they’re personally attacking things we hold dear or when we find ourselves raising our voices instead of listening, those are clues that we’re acting from a place of fear. If we insist on punishment instead of addressing root causes, that is a fear-based reaction. As is trying to control the thoughts, words and deeds of others, or elevating one group of people over another. All of those reactions are ways we let fear lead us, cloud our inner vision and distract us from dealing with what really matters.

If that describes what you’re experiencing, ask yourself: What needs do I have that aren’t being met? How can I work toward meeting those needs? What kind of help or assistance do I need?

How do we help others move away from fear-based reactions?

If that describes what you’re seeing in others, ask yourself: What needs do they have that aren’t being met? How can I work toward meeting those needs? What kind of help or assistance do they need?

Of course, in real life, perfection is more of a goal than a reality. There’s always improvements to be made. But if we commit to loving our neighbors, then there’s hope for better, more peaceful days ahead.

That’s your challenge.