THE COMMUNITY WE ALL VALUE (BRIDGE BUILDING)
THE COMMUNITY WE ALL VALUE (BRIDGE BUILDING)
BY CHIBU NDUBUISI 13/11/2017
Peace be upon you.
“Selfishness is advantageous to the individual but disadvantageous to
the group”. Have you ever been involved in a team work? How do you feel
when one person betrays the collective interest of the group? Sad, I
guess because life is lived in communities for it to be valuable and
meaningful.
Mark Zukerberg changed the mission of Facebook from “Connecting Friends to Connecting Communities”. The company even has a new mission statement: "To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together", because connecting people online isn't enough”. In his post “Building Global Community” Mark Zukerberg posited that ;”Bringing us all together as a global community is a project bigger than any one organization or company, but Facebook can help contribute to answering these five important questions:
• How do we help people build supportive communities that strengthen traditional institutions in a world where membership in these institutions is declining?
• How do we help people build a safe community that prevents harm, helps during crises and rebuilds afterwards in a world where anyone across the world can affect us?
• How do we help people build an informed community that exposes us to new ideas and builds common understanding in a world where every person has a voice?
• How do we help people build a civically-engaged community in a world where participation in voting sometimes includes less than half our population?
• How do we help people build an inclusive community that reflects our collective values and common humanity from local to global levels, spanning cultures, nations and regions in a world with few examples of global communities?
My hope is that more of us will commit our energy to building the long term social infrastructure to bring humanity together. The answers to these questions won't all come from Facebook, but I believe we can play a role.
That was Mark Zukerberg’s position highlighted above.
We all value altruism, according to Wikipedia, Altruism or selflessness is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others.
Darwin wrote in the “Descent of Man” that “the bravest, most sacrificial people would on average perish in large numbers than other men”. “ a tribe including many members who from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and sympathy were always ready to give aid to each other and to secure themselves for the common good would be victorious over most other tribes and this would be natural selection’.
In Africa, we have the “Ubuntu” Philosophy. According to Rev William E Flippin jnr,;
”The philosophy of Ubuntu derives from a Nguni word, ubuntu meaning “the quality of being human.” (“A person is a person through other people”). This African proverb reveals a world view that we owe our self hood to others, that we are first and foremost social beings, that, “One finger cannot pick up a grain.” Ubuntu is, at the same time, a deeply personal philosophy that calls on us to mirror our humanity for each other. Ubuntu can be seen and felt in the spirit of willing participation, unquestioning cooperation, warmth, openness, and personal dignity”.
Jonathan Sacks writes that civilization works at the level of the group, he went further to add that “we are each a letter in God’s book, like a letter we have no meaning on our own. But joined to other in families and communities we form sentences and paragraphs and become part of Gods story”.
Andrew Murphy writes that “you are confined only by the walls you build yourself”. It was Descartes who said that “I think therefore i am” I am saying that “I belong therefore I am”. I belong to a community that would think of building rather than destroying, a community that would think of healing rather than hurting, a community that will save lives rather than murder lives, a community that will show love rather than hate, a community that will show compassion rather than cruelty, a community that is devoted and dedicated to helping the weak, vulnerable and powerless to help make the world a better place, a community that builds bridges rather than walls.
Peace be with you.
Read more at chibundubuisi.blogspot.com
BY CHIBU NDUBUISI 13/11/2017
Peace be upon you.
Mark Zukerberg changed the mission of Facebook from “Connecting Friends to Connecting Communities”. The company even has a new mission statement: "To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together", because connecting people online isn't enough”. In his post “Building Global Community” Mark Zukerberg posited that ;”Bringing us all together as a global community is a project bigger than any one organization or company, but Facebook can help contribute to answering these five important questions:
• How do we help people build supportive communities that strengthen traditional institutions in a world where membership in these institutions is declining?
• How do we help people build a safe community that prevents harm, helps during crises and rebuilds afterwards in a world where anyone across the world can affect us?
• How do we help people build an informed community that exposes us to new ideas and builds common understanding in a world where every person has a voice?
• How do we help people build a civically-engaged community in a world where participation in voting sometimes includes less than half our population?
• How do we help people build an inclusive community that reflects our collective values and common humanity from local to global levels, spanning cultures, nations and regions in a world with few examples of global communities?
My hope is that more of us will commit our energy to building the long term social infrastructure to bring humanity together. The answers to these questions won't all come from Facebook, but I believe we can play a role.
That was Mark Zukerberg’s position highlighted above.
We all value altruism, according to Wikipedia, Altruism or selflessness is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others.
Darwin wrote in the “Descent of Man” that “the bravest, most sacrificial people would on average perish in large numbers than other men”. “ a tribe including many members who from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and sympathy were always ready to give aid to each other and to secure themselves for the common good would be victorious over most other tribes and this would be natural selection’.
In Africa, we have the “Ubuntu” Philosophy. According to Rev William E Flippin jnr,;
”The philosophy of Ubuntu derives from a Nguni word, ubuntu meaning “the quality of being human.” (“A person is a person through other people”). This African proverb reveals a world view that we owe our self hood to others, that we are first and foremost social beings, that, “One finger cannot pick up a grain.” Ubuntu is, at the same time, a deeply personal philosophy that calls on us to mirror our humanity for each other. Ubuntu can be seen and felt in the spirit of willing participation, unquestioning cooperation, warmth, openness, and personal dignity”.
Jonathan Sacks writes that civilization works at the level of the group, he went further to add that “we are each a letter in God’s book, like a letter we have no meaning on our own. But joined to other in families and communities we form sentences and paragraphs and become part of Gods story”.
Andrew Murphy writes that “you are confined only by the walls you build yourself”. It was Descartes who said that “I think therefore i am” I am saying that “I belong therefore I am”. I belong to a community that would think of building rather than destroying, a community that would think of healing rather than hurting, a community that will save lives rather than murder lives, a community that will show love rather than hate, a community that will show compassion rather than cruelty, a community that is devoted and dedicated to helping the weak, vulnerable and powerless to help make the world a better place, a community that builds bridges rather than walls.
Peace be with you.
Read more at chibundubuisi.blogspot.com
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