My Ideal Community

I want to describe my ideal community. It is pretty much entirely imaginary, so bear with me if you can. I hope it doesn't sound too childish.

My ideal community is full of people who are risky. They are not careless or reckless, but they can throw caution to the wind if they so desire. If somone in the community is down, sick or lonely or otherwise hurting, they are sincerely responsive. No one is really alone unless they want to be, so no one every feels lonely. People takes risks for each other. They act out in service, as though they are taking care of one of their own family. For example, friends could call each other in the middle of the night and, despite having a wife or work tomorrow, they would come over and be company. In fact, some people even look forward to getting such calls.

Pity is not shown, but tenderness is, so there is no disrespect or condescention. The skill of listening is one of the highest personal achievements. People in this community know how important it is to be listened to and understood, so they put effort into making sure they listen to each other. No shallow "I'm sorry to hear that" phrases or other insincere remarks. Yup, they actually care, and they show it.

I imagine this would be a small community. As in most small towns, everyone knows each other. But in this community it is different. Everyone actually knows each other, because they've taken the time to listen and understand each other. The weaknesses and strengths of the community are clear because of how freely communication flows. I told you they were risky. :)

For some reason I can't explain, because this is my imagination, I think this community deals with a lot of danger. There is always some outside threat to the community. This makes for a strong sense of loyalty with each other. It is important that they are in such a perilous situation. Without the danger, the communication and loyalty would be much less important and probably wouldn't even be there at all.

Hm, doesn't sound like America does it? Well, maybe after 9/11. But, it doesn't sound like any "civilized" places that I know of. When I reflect on this imagination, I wonder if I'm not supposed to live in a harsher environment than San Diego, California. I think the people that have the potential to be in this community exist here, but I don't think the actual community does. There are some good people here, but there aren't too many good communities. At least, I haven't found them yet. I hope I find a community like this. I'm sure it will be different than I imagine it, but I hope I keep my imagination vague enough for the details to fit in.

Cheers,
Benjamin