Creating communities....
Waiting in the passport office for more than 6 hours for some information on my son's passport, after almost a year after sending in the application, was an excellent lesson on community. I was sitting at the beginning of a long line (we had seats to sit down!) and I was asked to sit there till the file would come down from another office else where. So from 10.00 AM to 2.00 PM, (after 2 hours of waiting outside) many came behind me, got into the office room, met the officer and went off. I kept waiting till finally the file came up. Over these 4 hours, communities were created and broken. Some lasted for a few minutes some for a few hours, but none lasted beyond the time we were there. As people waited for the Officer to come in, started sharing on how long they have been waiting for the passport, some for 3 months, some 4 and others 6 months (I had the privilege of waiting the longest - One year and one month) and a sense of community emerged. There was "empathy"