How would you improve your community?
How would I improve my community?
.
By doing something slightly uncomfortable.
.
I’d stop assuming I’m always right.
.
Not a great personality trait to give up, I know.
But most of our “community issues”
feel less like real problems…
and more like a collection of people
(me included)
who don’t pause long enough to think,
“Maybe it’s not just them.”
.
I’ve judged people in seconds.
Misread silences.
And replied “hmm” to things
that probably deserved a little more heart.
.
Efficient? Yes.
Helpful? Not really.
.
So maybe… I’d start there.
.
I’d listen. Properly.
.
Not the kind where I nod
while preparing my next sentence
but the slightly uncomfortable kind
where I don’t interrupt,
don’t fix,
don’t turn it into my story.
.
Just… listen.
.
I’d also retire my habit
of building full personalities for people
based on one moment.
.
Because apparently,
people are not trailers.
You don’t get the whole story in 30 seconds.
.
And kindness
I’d stop treating it like a rare personality trait
and start using it like a default setting.
.
No announcements.
No “look how nice I am” energy.
.
Just…
a softer tone,
a delayed reaction,
a message I choose not to send.
.
Because sometimes,
what I don’t say
improves things more than what I do.
.
And when I don’t understand someone
instead of guessing, decoding, overthinking
.
I’d ask.
.
Directly. Simply. Humanly.
.
Will this fix everything?
.
No.
.
Someone will still misunderstand.
I’ll still have off days.
And someone will definitely still send
“Good Morning 🌹” at 6 AM.
.
But maybe
someone around me
will feel less judged.
.
One conversation
will feel a little safer.
.
One moment
will feel… lighter.
.
And honestly,
if my presence can do that
.
then maybe I didn’t fix the whole community…
.
but I stopped making it harder to live in.
.
And these days,
that itself feels like a pretty good improvement. 🙂
.
—Rajeshwari 🧿💕
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