Community. An interesting word, if you think about it, that means something different to every single person in the world. When I arrived at The University of Alabama almost four years ago, I had a definition for community, but certainly didn’t actually understand what it meant to be a part of a community until I became a part of this community.
Community is defined by the situations presented to the community, the constructs in place to address these situations, and the people, the faces, the very ideas that live in the community. In Tuscaloosa, we have the added challenge of being a college town, which means the constantly revolving door on our community is seeing large numbers of people move in and large numbers of people move out every few months at the end of each semester.
Looking around campus now I can see that, because so many people view Tuscaloosa as an impermanent home, they do not view themselves as a part of the community. But they are wrong.
Everyone at The University of Alabama is a member of the Tuscaloosa community. If you go City Café at 4 a.m. during finals week because you were up late studying, you’re a member of this community. If you find yourself going to house parties, bars, frat houses, and doing all those things that the high school version you thought college was supposed to be like, you’re a member of this community. If you enjoy going to football games on Saturdays in the fall, you are undeniably a part of this community.
The problem is people don’t think of things like football games or eating at restaurants as something that makes you a part of a community because those are fun things, trivial things that don’t require a care in the world. But being a part of this community means you have an obligation to accept the community for everything it is, whether those attributes are good or bad.
Community isn’t a sometimes thing, it’s an all-the-time thing. That has to be the case, especially in this community. Tuscaloosa has too many problems that need fixing for community to be a sometimes thing.
Two years ago this week I saw and was a part of one of the most beautiful, encouraging showings of community when an EF4 tornado ripped through my home, my community. Out of so much destruction emerged a united community that would not stop until the ship was righted. Tuscaloosa stood together after that day, lifted each other up in our collective time of need, and put community over self.
As inspirational as the Tuscaloosa community was after the tornado, I have to say that the tornado should be the least of our worries. West Alabama is crippled by poverty and the inability spark economic growth. Illiteracy is rampant in Tuscaloosa, where 1 in 4 people do not know how to read. The telltale signs of both hunger and obesity are etched on the faces of the members of our community. The education system is failing, politicians are greedy and corrupt, and racism plagues our campus. The list of glaring injustices in our community is simply far too long.
Here’s the good news: these problems are all things that we can fix, and fix quickly. This can happen if our community comes together, unites in the same way we did after the tornado, to eradicate these social issues for good. Choose what speaks to your heart and go make a difference. Lead by example and inspire others to make a difference. Remember that being a part of the Tuscaloosa community isn’t just fun and games (although there is plenty of room for that as well). Being a part of this community means actively engaging the people and working every day to make it a better place.
As I say goodbye to this campus, to this community that I love so much, I want to share with you two realizations. One, even though living in Tuscaloosa for four years is a minute amount of time in the grand scheme of things, it could make all the difference in the world if you dedicate yourself to the right cause in the right way. Two, even if you don’t live in Tuscaloosa after graduation, even if you aren’t from here originally, you will always be a part of the Tuscaloosa community. Now go make a difference.
Colby Leopard was the founder of READ Alabama.
