Real Community Takes Time

An old man tells of an older man he once knew - now deceased - who as a young man moved to a small town in South Carolina, where he reared a large family and was a leading member of the community for more than sixty years. On his tombstone, the citizens of the town had respectfully inscribed: “It is as though he were one of us.”

Real community takes time: so why all the talk of "creating" community (particularly, "sustainable communities" in the context of housing or social service initiatives)? A community can no more be "created" by implementing or utilizing some program than can matter be created by me.