What’s your definition of community?

In recent weeks I've been hearing this great advertisement on the radio from an insurance company talking about community and it got me to thinking, just what is a community?

On the map, a community is defined by geography. People who live in a certain neighbourhood, village or town, and a county or region such as the South Shore are all part of a community.

Those of us who call the province of Nova Scotia our home are part of a larger community; we're all Nova Scotians or Bluenosers.

You can consider the Maritimes or the Atlantic Region a community just as you can consider the country of Canada a community. Looking even further you can say every one of us on the planet is part of a much larger community — the community of humans.

But that's taking the literal definition of the word. A community can be defined in many other ways.

Those of us with a common history, heritage or culture are part of a community just as those who share a common goal, objective, cause or theme are a community.

And those who strive to overcome the same challenges, battle the same threats or climb the same obstacles are part of a community, just as those who celebrate the same successes are part of a community.

Members of a group, organization or fraternity are a community. People who work for the same company are part of a community, and those who attend the same school or institution are part of a community.

The same can be said for people who practice the same religion or share the same faith. Those people are part of a community.

A community can be defined in many ways, but it's those common threads that connect us in some way that help us form that community. If we all work together, then our community is strong and prosperous. However, if we fight from within and tear each other down, then our community becomes weak and may eventually crumble.

My philosophy is a simple one: our community is only as strong as we make it and we do that by working together and being supportive of each other.

Conversely then, it stands to reason that our community is only as strong as our weakest link in the chain and right now, these days, our collective community faces a major threat.

Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic poses many serious physical threats to our health and wellbeing. We've been under attack for the past year and a half by this relentless disease that comes after all of us. The threat is real and challenges our collective resolve to survive, but we've been fighting, mostly, as a united community.

However, beyond the physical threat, the virus threatens our community in another serious way — it threatens to fracture our support and love for one another. There are many issues to this pandemic, issues that are now pitting neighbour against neighbour, family against family and friend against friend.

When such riffs form it becomes difficult to repair the resulting divide, so be very careful here. We have started down a slippery slope, a slide that could be difficult to stop as it gains momentum.

There are two sides to every debate and that is true with this virus that has forever changed our lives. There are those who agree that the virus is real and those who believe it is a conspiracy designed by government or a mysterious cabal to control us and to thin the herd.

There are those who continue to wear a mask for protection and those who, even after all this time and despite government mandates, refuse to wear them as they argue masks are more unhealthy than the disease itself.

And there are those who have received the vaccine as they see it as the best defence against COVID-19, but there are also those who refuse to take it saying they believe it is more harmful than the virus itself. They argue it is their right to refuse the vaccine as it's their body and no one, not even government, can force them to put something in their body that they don't want.

That issue is a separate argument. The point, however, is that this rift is real. And, sadly, it's growing larger every day.

I cannot think of anything in recent history that has fractured our community more than this virus. Without debate, it has united us on many fronts as people have largely pulled together to protect themselves and their neighbours. However, right now the wedge over masks and vaccines is growing wider and threatens the very foundation of our community.

I truly believe that while people have the God-given right to form their own opinions and to make decisions that impact themselves, there comes a point where you also have to do what's best for the community as a whole. That means doing your part to protect and secure those in your community.

For the most part, I think people want to do what's right and they want to help others, but the hatred and animosity that has developed over the past year and a half is so real it's palpable. I blame a lot of that simmering angst on social media, with its venom and vitriol fuelling the argument and driving that wedge even deeper.

What we've seen happening in recent months is not good for us as individuals and it's certainly not good for our collective community. As we move forward, we must always be respectful of each other in our community and we must find a way to coexist in harmony. We must continue to understand and support one another, not spew hatred at each other, which helps no one.

Throughout history, people have faced many threats.

They persevered and they've overcome the challenges.

This pandemic will end. We don't know when and we're not sure how, but at some point in the future, the threat from this particular virus will be over.

The end may come through the natural evolution of the human species or as the result of the vaccine or maybe even some other form of treatment that hasn't been developed yet. Regardless, when it does end, we want our community to be strong and healthy because, make no mistake, when this pandemic ends, there will be new threats.

The message is clear — the more united we remain the stronger our community remains, or at least that's the view from here.

THE VIEW FROM HERE

Yes, the COVID19 pandemic poses many serious physical threats to our health and wellbeing. We’ve been under attack for the past year and a half by this relentless disease that comes after all of us. The threat is real and challenges our collective resolve to survive, but we’ve been fighting, mostly, as a united community.

Vernon Oickle, the author of 32 books, writes The View From Here column, which appears weekly in the South Shore Breaker.