When the internet was first created, it was predicted to bring people around the world closer together than ever before. But as we now know, technological innovations such as the internet have proven to be an inadequate substitution for in-person interaction, and contrary to those initial predictions, our society often seems to feel more fractured and disconnected than ever.
In fact, the U.S. surgeon general released a 2023 advisory regarding the “healing effects of social connection and community” in response to “our epidemic of loneliness and isolation.”
In many ways, it does feel as if our connections to each other are uniquely fraught. We may complain about our neighbors on Facebook groups and Nextdoor more often than we knock on their doors to offer our friendship, and generational divides have begun to seem more like chasms than gaps.
We have to remind ourselves that a strong society starts with us. If we want a solid community, we have to act accordingly. Each of us has the power to replace the suspicion, blame, and judgment we may be guilty of hurling at our (literal and figurative) neighbors with a warm remark or a helping hand, and we don’t need to wait to make those changes.
We all deserve to live in a supportive, compassionate world. Here are 12 quotes about how we can build just that.
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.Greek proverb
There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.Nelson Mandela
We must be willing, individually and as a nation, to accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.Dwight D. Eisenhower
All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded to the individual.Albert Einstein
There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.Meg Wheatley
What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness is cured.Kurt Vonnegut
The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.Coretta Scott King
The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.John W. Gardner
Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.Helen Keller
The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.Georges Bernanos
I know there is strength / In the differences between us / And I know there is comfort / Where we overlap.Ani DiFranco
When we listen with less judgment, we always develop better relationships with each other. It’s not differences that divide us. It’s our judgments about each other that do. Curiosity and good listening bring us back together.Meg Wheatley
Featured image credit: Media24/Gallo Images/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images
