Holidays and Community

Today is Memorial Day. It is a holiday designed to memorialize those who have given their lives for our country.

But Memorial Day, like all holidays, also has a second purpose: community building.

Think about it: we have holidays to celebrate specific things. Some are civic and some are religious. But they all have a reason for being. And beyond that, these holidays give most of us a chance to take time off from work and spend time with others.

Sure, many of us use these days to do work around the house, or go shopping, but even those tasks can be community building.

Memorial Day is one of the symbolic bookends of the Summer season. It’s when people open up their pools and invite friends and family over for cookouts.

Holidays allow us to take our minds off of the busy-ness of work and recharge.

Holidays give us a reason to set aside our worries and focus on celebrating something.

And most importantly, holidays give us the chance to share time with friends and family. We get to renew, build, and maintain relationships. And we also have the chance to grow our communities by including those who might not feel like they belong to any community.

For me, many of my relationships have either begun, or been renewed or maintained, via Social Media.

Anytime people get together there is community. If there is a shared interest of any sort, that community grows stronger.

This is the promise of Social Media.

So enjoy today.

Spend time with your community, whether it is friends, family, or a combination of both, and strengthen those ties.

Enjoy the laughter and make memories.

And remember: this IS community.

Tagged as: Marketing, Social Media