Happy September! Maureen has the Spiritual Thursday round up today. Her topic suggestion was “community.” As a new school year gets underway, my thoughts of community turn to my classroom. To build community, we write together. I’ve always felt that writing helps build connections and brings us closer to each other.
When my father died in April, I received so many cards that I couldn’t fit them all on my counter, so I filled a basket. Like Christmas, every day for a few weeks I received handwritten, comforting cards and letters. Without even noticing, I had become a part of a community of people who support each other in good times and in bad times.
This weekend there was an article in the local paper that caught my eye. It was an interview with a teacher I knew. This teacher came to a writing workshop I held one summer. Because we wrote together, I feel close to her. I cut out the article and laminated it to send to her. She probably has multiple copies, but I decided that the gesture was about more than just giving her another copy of the article. It was a gesture of community, recognizing and seeing her.
My writing group is a special community to me. The Inklings got together and created a “junk journal” with each poet writing a special sympathy poem for me. I made a video of this gift that can be viewed here. Linda Mitchell of our group recently shared a new poem with us. She wrote it about the sycamore tree that we planted in memory of my dad on the grounds of their retirement home. “A sycamore tree symbolizes strength, protection, eternity, and divinity.” She gave me permission to share her sweet skinny poem.
Whether writing with each other or writing for each other, writing creates community. If you are interested in joining a small community of writers, tune in on Wednesdays when I post “This Photo Wants to be a Poem.” We write together in separate places about a shared image. There is always room for more.
Reflections on the Teche 
Margaret, I like the point you make about community being there for us in good times as well as bad. It is so easy to feel alone when things are not going well and it important to know that we are not alone. There is strength in numbers.
Margaret, this is delightful! This line, oh my – “The Inklings got together and created a “junk journal” with each poet writing a special sympathy poem for me.” This is such a thoughtful gift from your writing circle – and what a precious name “Inklings.” Just perfect! Writing together /alongside one another is precious community.
Margaret, you have built such a fine community is your classroom. Your students’ writing grows each year as they grow closer together. I imagine your classroom to have a beautiful hum to it with lots of sharing. I think that you have shepherded our group to tackle difficult topics, build connections, and inspire each one of us to dig deeper. The Inklings’ gift to you is a testament to the power of community. It is such a beautiful gift, as is Linda’s poem.
Like a diamond, your many facets of community glitter with reflected light, Margaret. I see the students intent on their writing and sharing it – few things build community as much as writing, for it comes from the very core of who we are. It risks vulnerability to build foundational trust and respect. Sharing our stories knits us together by our heartstrings. It is the same with mourning. The community of consolation during loss and grief is a beautiful thing. Your loss is still fresh; my father has been gone twenty years this month and I feel shell-shocked that it should be so. I love the tree imagery and the their collective, representative strength; no wonder they have become a means of paying tribute to a lost loved one. Earl Spencer planted thirty-six on the family estate in memory of his sister, Princess Diana – one for each year of her life. Linda’s linking trees to the eternal longing to see God is magnificent. Thank you for every word here, Margaret.
“being seen is part of community.” It’s such a simple thing to do…and yet, I don’t purposefully do that as much as I could. Thank you for sharing the article with a teacher friend and posting the poem in memory of your Dad. I read recently that this generation of students is forever marked by grief due to so many who have lost loved ones during the pandemic. So much loss in our community. It is important that we support each other.
Just like in your classroom, writing together builds connections, brings us closer to each other, and creates community. I am grateful for our SJT community and for the poem Linda Mitchell wrote. It’s lovely and captures a life well-lived. I know you continue to miss your dad. Hugs as you navigate this new time in your life.
Margaret, the video you created of the journal the Inklings made you is so precious. I enjoyed reading all the poems. I love how you gave time for the reading, and I knew I was reading along with you. Precious comfort and memories found there. I loved Linda’s poem and the connection to Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree you planted: “In memory of eternal longing to see God.” What a peaceful post. Thank you for sharing your warm community thoughts. I’m thinking of you today.
Community isn’t always a physical coming together, as you have shown here–it’s the support shown in something as small as a card and as large as a tree. You’ve made me reflect on the times in my life when we were supported through thoughts, prayers, and acts of kindness–thank you for the reminder that such does still exist.