Select two communities to which you belong and list the three most significant uniting factors and patterns of sameness:

Chapter Three

Chapter three of “Writing and Community Action” discusses many components of what it means and what it takes to be an active member within a community. One of the primary passages that really stood out was the example where Deans talks about the first day of college and what it is like for the new student. Though not necessarily true for students at VMI where identities are given rather than sought after, most colleges attempt to quickly assign students these identities as to help them become better acquainted and feel more at home (98). Though this may seem like a reassuring entrance into the college realm, this situation indicates a larger problem that can pose danger within society: the desire to cast everyone into a community, therefore peeling away certain layers of individuality in order to conform everyone to a certain group.

Though the are dangers of losing ones identity when one gets distracted with simply playing their role within a society, there are also many instances where community is not only a positive thing but a needed glue to bind a society together. After the 2001 attack on the twin towers (2001) and other terrible events that have threatened and impacted the nation as a whole, there is often a sense of brotherhood that erupts that doesn’t encompass only certain individuals but the nation as a whole. This sense of unity is the reason why the U.S.A has been able to sustain itself for as long as it has. Without soldiers willing to defend their country with their life by following the lead of elected officials there may not exist in America the freedom to be an individual. Though both community and individuality are important, they are best understood when they are viewed as two entities that work together and not separate.