Community.

Yesterday I read the following description of community: "A laboratory for disarmament." It's as though our beginning steps toward knowing others and being known lie behind this tangle of walls and weapons we use to hide and protect ourselves. It's such a long process of experimentation - dabbling in honest statements accepted, rejected, or ignored. Drawing a line for ourselves to cross over, then retreat. Testing the waters. I'm growing more convinced that this long road is the only road to real community. And even when our defenses come down with a few people, they are still liable to spring back up in the face of new threats to our sense of belonging and acceptance. I don't have any answers. Try letting your guard down somewhere and see how it works out. Let me know what happens.