Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
It is important to have things in common. Common parents make a family. In a community, we need to have commonality to make the community like a family. We need familiarity with common landmarks, we need common institutions and a common culture. Even a common dialect aids community cohesion. The churches in this photos are a common community landmark.
This is a picture of the community that I live in. I can see those churches from my house and they have always been there and signify not only community cohesion but a perpetual commonality and a place we call home.
The history of the town is also something we have in common and I am the admin of the community page The History of Wednesbury. People like to see pictures of days gone by and lament the changes in our town over the years. I post a lot of old pictures to prod the collective memory of the elders of the town and give the younger ones a glimpse into the bygone world that we knew. Images are important. The town has acquired a more negative image of traffic jams and run down shopping. It looks like it needs a good clean. The grime of industry still clings to the town, long after the industry disappeared forever.
The people are important and they are bonded by a common history and heritage. The community cohesion is also held together by a common dialect and culture. The clock tower in the marketplace is an iconic symbol of the town and was once a meeting place. Other meeting places included the churches, pubs and clubs. Images of these places remind people of happier harmonious days. Community harmony is promoted by images of times spent with our extended family which is made up of all those friends we have made in the community we live in.
Harmony is, in fact, the subject of this week’s ‘post a day’ photo challenge. Harmony in a community is dependent on common places to meet and enjoy events as part of the community. Those places are diverse and include the town clock, where lovers once met before sharing an evening in the pubs and clubs. Those places include nurseries and schools where children first learn the social rules. The play areas and parks of the town are also an important part of that social learning process. Harmony in communities is a complex and diverse web of social interaction and happens in places and spaces that are small and intimate. The ever centralising of power takes the powerful away from the community and they lose touch not only with the people and the culture but with that feeling of belonging to a community. They become set apart from the common people and are no longer a part of their commonality and community. They forget the importance of maintaining harmony in the community
If you would like to follow this blog, just enter your email address at the top of the sidebar or follow me on Twitter for updates. You can also find amazing ideas on my Facebook Page.
