I believe in groups becaues I believe in individuals

I believe we need to be in community because I believe in the importance of an individual person.

When I was in college I had a period where I was part of a ROTC program. Part of that deal was that I needed to run a 1.5 mile race and had to do it in a certain amount of time. I have never been that much of a runner but was young and had an ego so I thought I would try to win.
Shortly after the race started one guy ran ahead of me and I decided that second place wouldn't be so bad. But i did decide to keep up with him. And I did, until the last quarter mile when he ran ahead. It turns out that he was a runner or something.

The point is that I ran faster than I ever have (and probably ever will). I was under nine minutes for the whole thing! That is under a six minute mile. On the sheet that marks my time, my name was next to that time and no one else's name was recorded there. However, I never would have run that fast if I wasn't running with someone who could push me to run faster.

There is potential in us that cannot be tapped into unless we are in community. I particularly believe this when it comes to men. We are made to "not be alone" but our community usually has a lot more to do with the lowest common denominator than it does with challenging and spurring each other on.