The word community comes from the Latin word communitas (meaning the same).
The word same is an adjective meaning identical. Derived "from Proto-Germanic *samaz"
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My 45-year-old Uber driver and I are the same—two Puerto Ricans whose lives are tied to the Bronx.
I first stepped into his car, just expecting to read during a silent ride. When I gathered myself into the back seat, I was met with coughing, light laughter, and an apology.
"You ever had a Bearclaw?"
"Yes! Have you had one from Panera?"
"That's exactly what I just ate. It went down the wrong pipe. You know when you have five minutes to get someone and you think you can eat and clean up before?"
I never had experience as an Uber Driver: "Yes, I understand"
*First example of community as a universal concept
"I know presentation is a lot in this business but I'm human, and understand everyone has to eat. No rush!"
"If only you knew all the stories I have, I would write a book."
"You should still write a book!"
"Some people either have too much money or spend too much time on the TV. There are people who are high maintenance. I'll tell you one story.
I had a job as a doorman. The building I worked at, had an office that belonged to New York's best divorce lawyer- a rich Jewish woman.
One day, I was helping this gentleman at the front desk and there was yelling outside. The gentleman asked if I was going to help her. I said I would help her when I am done with you.
I walk out and she's yelling "There is always someone here to open the door and help me with my packages! Where's Richard?"
"Now, I served in the army. And when you come back, you have to show people that some problems are not as serious as the rest of the world, you know?"
"Thank you for your service"
"Thank you! So right, I said to her
"I just came back a week ago from Afghanistan and I was not fighting overseas to be spoken to this way. Richard is the guy who I replaced"
So, she goes upstairs with her packages and comes back down and apologizes to me.
"Wow. I'm happy you said something to her and that's good she apologized."
"People need to have respect. I learned that in life it's better to be quiet and listen than act like you know everything"
"How did you learn this? Did you read a lot? Have a mentor? Or a troubling experience?"
He goes on to tell me two things that have influenced his knowledge and what I believe to be intelligence.
His ex's mom is a physic
His older brother is a bully and his sister is a princess
Point 1:
"My ex now but girlfriend at the time, which we dated then broke up, then got married then divorced (My emotions were on a rollercoaster when he said this, the same way you read it), her mom has a gift.
And I believed she has this gift from God, but what if it's not from God if you know what I'm saying
Of course, I knew what he was saying so I started clapping like a woman in church when she heard some truth.
"What if it was the devil? She would get things right before they happened or when they did, she proclaimed she knew it would. And this is fine, but you shouldn't overuse or misuse a gift from God yk.
She told my ex that I was with other women. Now I have no reason to be dishonest to you, but I wasn't"
*Second example of community as a means of justified truth, establishing a sense of trust with a "stranger"
Ultimately, his relationship failed because his ex let her mother meddle in. All he wanted was for her to be happy and he didn't want to get in-between her relationship with her mother.
Point 2:
"My brother can't take a joke. He always gotta be right.
"Are you the oldest? How many siblings do you have?"
"My brother is the oldest and then I have a younger sister. I have middle child syndrome, but organically" (I have no idea what he meant by this, but one day would like to do research on this to see if I have middle child syndrome)
"My brother and I used to fight physically a lot. And my sister was the baby so she got everything she wanted. This forced me to be introspective and reflect on my feelings and thoughts (feeling and thoughts as separate entities)
I realized that the way to fight him is not physically but mentally. And when I started doing that, he would be silent and couldn't put me down
Like I can joke but when we start roasting, then he's quiet" (The earliest record of a roast dates back to 1949 at the New York Friars Club" "with French singer Maurice Chevalier as the guest of honor")
At this time he proceeds to tell me jokes he and his friend say.
"You like comedy? You should do stand up."
"I want to, but I have stage fright."
"The only way to combat that is to do it."
"Funny enough, I actually started, and you wanna know where I started...church!"
*This annotation has nothing to do with community, but I want to highlight that this sentence alone can be broken down into a 1,000-word blog based on its sentence formation
** Double annotation because I realize this can be used as research regarding community because we can view community having to deal with memory and language
He arrives at the front of my home, but before entering I had to affirm my strong assumption.
"Are you Puerto Rican?"
"No. Dominican."
Regardless, we are the same.
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