Everything is a Community.
We are also much, much more.
Everything is a Family.
This can be easily seen at our gatherings. We take time out of our schedules, travel long distances to sit around, talk, play guitar, drink beer, watch TV; stuff we can do at home... We go out of way to spend time together because we're all cut from the same thread... We're an enormous, elaborate tapestry, each section unique, but undeniably unified. (unity comes from diversity) Some may move away, but nobody truly leaves. Once you're here, you're family.
We have every aspect of a family here: fathers, mothers, laughter, weeping, fighting, growth... (it takes a family to raise a noder) Some grow up quickly, some take longer than others.
In the end, though, we're all still brothers and sisters, working for the same cause, growing all the while.
It's running to a stranger you've known all your life and giving a hug usually reserved for your closest kin.
It's laughing and crying on the phone for 3 hours with a new-found friend late one Thursday.
It's weeping at your keyboard with those around the world some idle Monday.
It's going to a concert with people you'd never met before that night.
It's falling down, and having friends there to pick you back up.
It's pouring your soul into a little white box, and clicking 'stumbit'.
You don't have to be any certain level to be loved.
You don't have to be an editor to be respected.
You will grow here. We will help you.
"The easiest thing in the world is to give advice. The hardest is to know yourself."
--Anaximander
"My vision of everything is utopic. I want us all to be happy..."
--Adam Purcell
I can't help but note parallels between Damascus, Syria and Damascus, Maryland.
In one case, St. Paul was living out his daily life, going about his business when tragedy hit, and he underwent a dramatic conversion to a new family.
In another case, many of us were living out our daily lives when, in Damascus, Maryland, our brother chose to take his own life. It made us weep as a community as never before, but it also showed us how much we mean to one another. In a sense, it thrust us together into the family of E2.
In my case, the Damascus experience might very well be the reason I'm still here. Like many others here, I'm often held captive by a certain blessing. It may come as news to some of you, it may not, but right about the time Adam decided to leave us, I was headed right down the same road. It was y'all who reached out to help, and for that I'm more grateful than you can possibly imagine.
E2 is a haven for those without close-knit families. Many of us on here come from families who, at one point or another, have only one active parent. Others come from abusive families, still others from distant ones. We who have few close friends in real life find solace in that there are many others like us here. The E2 family is far from perfect, but we do share an unspoken bond, a kinship that keeps us together, always caring for one another. Be kind to folks on here. You may never know what they're going through.
We are Brothers and Sisters
(you are my brothers and sisters)
We are a Family
(you are my family)