A Sense of Community

I was asked to participate in the discussion for the Real Life Survival Guide taping yesterday. 

The question was posed by Bruce Barber, "What's an important lesson you've learned or story you've heard - whether in your day to day existence, your job, or a hobby or personal passion - that you think would help other people?"

I chose to focus on an experience from my teen years. I grew up about a half-mile from a velodrome. We used to go to the bike races there in the summer. One summer the Olympic trials were held there along with the national championships. One of the announcements at the race mentioned that the Milwaukee Wheelmen had community rides at the track and in the park a couple of times a week. Charged up by the races, I decided to go.

One thing led to another and I started to race my stock bike. Through the associations and friendships developed at these rides; a local bike shop owner agreed to build my fits racing bike. I started to win a few races and a couple of the older riders took an interest in me and became my coaches.

There was at least one race a week between the tracks in in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Northbrook, Illinois. The races weren't really Olympic competition. We raced in packs on these ovals. Sometimes there were as many as 30 riders on the track at one time. It was a cross between roller derby and NASCAR.  There were plenty of heated rivalries and crashes. Because of the competition, riders were drawn from all over the country. Some of them were world class athletes. 

There was no way I could compete with these athletes head on. Through my coaches we developed a strategy. Since not much happened in these races (the sprints) until the bell lap, we came up with a plan that made me competitive. A velodrome is a banked oval. I was able to use that to my advantage by swinging to the top of the track headed into the first turn. Then, I cranked into a sprint in the second turn using gravity to increase my speed as I swung down to the inside track ahead of the pack. If it worked, I got a jump on the competition heading into turn three and four. There was always a sprint to the finish down the final straight, but I would often have the advantage of being the front runner. It didn't always work because the competition was lot bigger, stronger and faster than I was.

It was great for my self-esteem as a teenager. Winning was fun too. But, since I understood where I stood in the competitive order of things (there was no way I was going to be national champ or make the Olympic Team) I became a good winner. There was humbleness to it. 

I enjoyed the competition. I also valued camaraderie and the friendships. I belonged. It was a shared experience. There was a real sense of community. It was my first meaningful lesson in the importance of community. 

That sense of community and belonging is one of the key findings of Audience 98. Public Radio listeners expressed they are a part of a larger public radio audience. It is a shared experience. It is one of deciding factors in listener support. 

So much of our time today is spent in isolation. It's easy to spend four or five hours on-line or on mobile media not really interacting with the people around us. Because of this are we losing that sense of community? The thinking of the panelists at yesterday's taping was there will always be a need for community.  

I hope they're right.