Life is a circle. Plants, animals and humans grow, get sick, and decline, but most don’t do it in isolation. They live in community. They survive in groups, but here in America we are destroying each other and losing our sense of community we’ve needed to survive like all other living things.

If I think of a lack of water somewhere, it’s a place where no beings live, dead leaves, animals and humans despaired.  With no water to survive, it is like a dead heart without blood. That’s what having no community makes me think. A heart with no capacity to love, no pity for others. Dark like a shadow. A place nobody wants to go. A place like a dying room. No transportation to move, no rescue. Community is much closer in Senegal and since I came to America, I feel like I’m dehydrated, constantly thirsty for community to fill my heart and soul.

What happened in past couple days in this country with two black people being shot and five police officers being killed is proof of the lack of community and unity. Everybody needs to participate in that fight to make that country more united and to stop erosion of our values. In Senegal there no racism because everyone is black. Even though people have different religions and backgrounds they interact each other. It makes me laugh when people tell me I am glad you are here or good for you to live in USA without thinking that is more dangerous in the USA for me. In Senegal there is peace, acceptance, and tolerance.

However, in the USA, people don’t interact in community so they don’t respect each other. Some people are discriminated against because of their religion, their skin color, or their race. We don’t need to choose a side to make our society work. We all need to work together, respect each other to fight against the selfishness of our hearts and our stereotypes. We need to be more soft and humble. We should not let our bad sides dominate the good sides of each of us.