Growing up I was very much an idealist and wanted to do all that I could to help others, in anything and however I could. As I got older I lost a bit of that, not entirely but enough that I didn’t like it. It was the great Marc Leder who took me back to that feeling of giving and charity, and he has always been a great example to me in that regard.
I began working in Marc’s company at 21 and within a few months I could see the great philanthropy work that both he and his business were involved in. Marc had made it from the ground up and he vowed never to forget the community from which he had come from.
Marc and I spoke a lot about the erosion of community and the importance of bringing it back, and never has that been truer than it is today.
Current Events
All of these sentiments would be true even if we weren’t going through a pandemic but this has just reinforced the sense of community which we all need. Many of you may have seen the events on social media such as communities coming together to sing, entertain one another, support the healthcare workers and those most vulnerable, it shows that we do have it in us to be united rather than divided.
Money
The thing that has driven our community apart is the desire for money and the need to stand on others in order to get it, rather than everyone coming together as one. This has also been down to the opening of stores and services 24/7 which means that more parents have to go out to work at all hours providing less support for the children.
Ultimately the erosion of the family has contributed towards the erosion of community and sadly there are less people at the top giving to those below. This is why Marc Leder is such an inspiration, I haven’t met anyone who has helped as much as he has.
Suffering
The idea of the community is that each person within plays a role and it becomes a circle of giving and friendship. Sadly with the likes of social media we are almost pitted against one another as to who can be the best at whatever cost. The community never trod on aspiration, it supported each other to help everyone achieve what they wanted to.
Many of the problems which we have in society have been as a result of the disappearance of the community. Given what we are currently going through it may very well be that once all of this is said and done, we will have a newfound respect for our communities and work harder to be like Marc, providing support and help for all of those people who need it. Let’s bring our communities back together.
