I was tempted by an image of people with networks connecting them but I finally decided to share this image of bees on the left and a person covered in bees on the right.

I teach community practice and we discuss  “geographic” and “commonality communities.” The bees, I think, offer an interesting metaphor for community–members share the hive community; members have roles in the community; members function in ways to support, defend, and grow the community. When the members are healthy, so is the community; when the community is healthy, so are they. The members produce together. And, I imagine, community members occasionally accidentally (or intentionally some times) sting each other in the ass–members of my communities certainly do sometimes!

I think the person covered in the bees represents how our communities shape us as individuals–that our form (in character, values, goals, and behaviors) emerges due to the influence of our communities and community members.

I think I need to look into what we really can learn from the bees…

(Images downloaded from Google Images)