Our Sense of Community

Our Sense of Community

Everyone is born, lives, and dies in this world believing that they belong to something or nothing at all: a family, a town, a neighborhood, a particular church, etc. In Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson tells us that a nation is an "Imagined community that is imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign. It is not and cannot be based on everyday face to face interaction between it's members."

I believe that we as the people that make up this community of ours create our "nation", but we do not imagine it. To imagine something for me means that I dream of something that is not real, but to create something brings it to life. Although I would agree with most of what Anderson says, like for instance that print capitalism helps "circulate" this belief, I also believe the word "Imagined" would be incorrect.

Our country runs on rules, beliefs, and our sense of community, without all of these things our world, our nation, would run amuck. Our military men and woman are not willing to die for something they can not see or what they "imagine". They see what they believe in and what they create everyday; their families, friends and communities that make up our nation. Just because we can't put our hand on something does not mean that it's not real. With TV, movies, news papers, magazines, and the internet, we know about current events about people who live in other states and even countries from us. We can all relate to one other and feel apart of something.

Sovereign

Noun

1. A supreme ruler, esp. a monarch

2. A former British gold coin worth one pound sterling, now only minted for commemorative purposes.

Adjective

Possessing supreme or ultimate power