As we near the end of summer, it is not unusual, to hear about folk becoming very emotional, as we experience some of the last hot days of the year. The heat tends to bring a lot of things up and it becomes harder and harder to contain ourselves, especially when it feels like things are bubbling away just below the surface.
It's not always easy sharing space with other people, we all come with our own personalities and opinions about things and it can be hard to work things through, when it is like that. There tends to be a lot of repetition, when so many come together to discuss things and at times it feels like things are not moving along as they should.
It is such a lovely piece of land that I live on and I am very grateful for the fact that I have been able to stay here. It is really the first time that I have lived in such a close community like this and it has certainly taught me a few things. Mostly, how important open communication is amongst everyone who lives here.
I had a wonderful celebration on the land, for my birthday a few months back. It started during the day and was over before midnight. More recently, one of my good friends who also lives on the land, had a birthday celebration which started later and then ended in the wee hours of the morning.
For both of these occasions, we asked the people who bought the land, if they were happy for us to hold them here and they said yes. I know that for my birthday, the party as cancelled a few times because of the weather and then finally we made a decision to just go for it, which meant that there was less warning than we would have liked.
My friends, birthday celebration was so lovely. He arranged for someone to come and sing and then for a DJ to come and play some tunes. We spend a few days decorating the land and everyone was really impressed by what they saw.
One woman that attended, was so impressed that she asked the owners of the land if they would be open to her, holding parties on the land. He agreed,to let her, two days before the party. Which you can imagine felt a bit late for some of us. But it was not our decision to make.
A few people on the land expressed some concerns, one of them was about the difference between a private party and a public party.
Communication is so important, especially open and honest communication and although the party I held, was attended by people that I knew, at the end of the day, not everyone on the land knew them.
Last night, another party happened. Some of the people who live on the land found out, when someone passed a flyer to them in town. They became very annoyed by this. A meeting was held, where we discovered that the agreement had only been made the night before.
At the end of the day, when you are living with other people it is important that everyone is heard and respected. I am a guest living here and if I am not happy with something I can say so and move on if I wish to.
I have my family to consider and if something is not right for me and them, then I have choices to make. It is not my palce to tell others what they should do with the land that they have.
Things escalated quickly in the meeting, as we have people who have very strong personalities and can come across as harsh sometimes. For me it is important to be able to accept people for who they are, if you can't then you can decide not to have them in your life.
It's really difficult to communicate with one another when emotions are running high and we sometimes end up saying things we do not mean and hurting people we never intended to. Throw in the heat and it can become chaos.
We are all human at the end of the day and sometimes all it calls for is a little empathy, to see where someone is coming from, to put yourself into their shoes. .
Communication is so important, if that is lacking then there are no grounds for a community to grow. At the end of the day, I am not here to change anyone, but myself.
So yesterday three people left the land, taking their movable homes with them. That was their choice and at the end of the day we all have choices to make. It's really not unusually to hear about people coming to head, due to lack of communication or understanding, with weeks of hot weather thrown in on top if it all.
So what have I learnt. That we really need to calm down before we try and resolve any issues. That we need to be more understanding of others and not jump to conclusions. Everyone has the right to feel heard and although we may not always agree, we can certainly find ways in which we can work together
Community is so important, we need to work on building it up instead of tearing it down.
So onwards and upwards for me and my clan.
