bethinkr

I talk a lot about communities here—just look at the category and tag clouds to your right. The reason that communities are so powerful—in movements, in marketing, and in simply living—is that it is important for us to be connected with others. We can feel that inner desire to reach out, to support.

The cool thing is, people are really on a whole pretty good. There is lots of negative news about rotten individuals, but then a story like this comes out.

“Are you here to buy a house?” Marilyn Mock said.

[Tracy] Orr couldn’t hold it in. The tears flowed. She pointed to the auction brochure at a home that didn’t have a picture. “That’s my house,” she said.

Within moments, the four-bedroom, two-bath home in Pottsboro, Texas, went up for sale. People up front began casting their bids. The home that Orr purchased in September 2004 was slipping away.

She stood and moved toward the crowd. Behind her, Mock got into the action [...] she bought the home [...] That’s when Mock did what most bidders at a foreclosure auction never do.

“She said, ‘I did this for you. I’m doing this for you,’ ” Orr says.

[...]

“All this happened within like 5 minutes. She never even asked me my name. She didn’t ask me my financial situation. She had no idea what [the house] looked like. She just did it out of the graciousness of her heart.”

Lest you think I am hiding something, Mock and Orr are going to work out a way for Orr to pay her back. Mock isn’t a rich “Good Samaritan” that goes around with money to burn. Things are tight for her too, but she was in a position to help. And that’s what Orr needed.

That’s why we have communities, that’s why we need to facilitate their creation. It’s so people can continue to have these types of experiences.