Helping & Healing

Community: What We Are Learning from the Austin Bombings

Over the past 3 weeks, Austin has been on edge as bomb after bomb has killed or injured people around the city. Questions around motive, profile, expertise, and safety in general have been the talk of the town - and almost 2,000 calls have been made to authorities reporting suspicious packages or people. People have been afraid and confused and not sure what to do.

But they have also been meeting their neighbors.

This is the gift of tragic events like these: people move out of their social discomfort and talk about it with those around them.

Once upon a time, we had to be in relationship with our neighbors in order to survive. Urgent matters like weather, war, and disease made ‘shared sacrifice’ a necessity for every community. The tribe or community commitment was equal to the family commitment: both were essential.

We’ve lost that need over time. First due to transportation advances, then computers, then mobile phones and social media. We no longer feel that we need our neighbor, and instead, we generally resort to leaving them alone unless they do something that bothers us. Until a bomb goes off - and then, suddently, we are looking out for each other.

I am sad that it takes explosions, injuries, and deaths to inspire this new sense of community - and as a response, we in Sparkle Land want to inspire you into action.

So, meet your neighbors.

Find out who they are, what they need, what they fear, and what makes them happy. And then help them - not only because one day you may need their help, but because it's the right thing to do.

And so, we want to share a story about the need for community after a shared tragedy. We hope the story inspires some action in your house - as current events have inspired it in ours.

The Fairy Feast

When there’s a sudden change in the backyard of twin brothers Russell and Randolph, the stonewall gnomes, brook nymphs, and oak tree elves must assemble a “feast” — a special and very potent fairy gathering.

19 min

4+