We also want to add another Generativity Four role that would probably not formally qualify as “volunteerism,” since it is very informal and often not given much thought by those who are generative. Generative men and women are conveners of informal small groups of “fellow travelers” that meet every day or once a week to simply talk about what is happening in their lives or in their communities. One of us occasionally has breakfast at the nearby McDonalds and observes that four to six men and women in their 70s and 80s are always there sitting together at the same cluster of tables. The elderly mother of one of our colleagues similarly meets every day with other old timers near her home in New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 80 years. One of our brothers meets once a week with other guys in their New England town, and a colleague meets every Thursday morning with six other men at a restaurant in Nevada County.
These gatherings would not occur if there were not settings in which to meet with women and men who share similar values. Several years ago, Ron Kitchens, executive at a community bank in Kalamazoo Michigan, wrote about “community capital” (Kitchens, Gross, and Smith,2008). He offered the metaphor of filling a bowl with rocks, pebbles and sand. When speaking to other people about community capital, Kitchens brings out a large bowl and asks one of the meeting attendees to fill the bowl with rocks contained in a bag. When this task has been completed, Ron asks another attendee to gather pebbles from another bag and continue to fill the bowl; apparently, the bowl is not really filled until the pebbles are added. Kitchens now asks yet another member of the audience to open a third bag that is filled with sand. Remarkably, there is still room in the bowl for the sand in addition to the rocks and pebbles. Kitchens suggests that the “rocks” in a community are the major institutions that provide jobs and financial stability (for example, industrial and financial institutions). The pebbles are those institutions that provide nutrition, human services and education. These “pebble” institutions stitch the community together and make it a place where people want to live. Governmental agencies provide some of the pebbles, but also some of the rocks.
It is the “sand,” however, that makes the community truly come alive. The sand is to be found in the daily interactions among members of the community: the gatherings in local restaurants, the art and craft fairs, the weekly farmers market, the local concerts. We suggest that civic engagement and volunteer services of all kinds can be found operating at all three levels in a community. The “sandy” forms of generativity service are just as important as the rock and pebble roles of Generativity Four that are engaged through formally organized volunteer services and leadership in nonprofit organizations. Perhaps a professional coach can help their client build a sand castle – a series of encounters with other members of a community that are meaningful for all involved and offer pathways to expanded civic engagement.
It is through the interplay of community rocks, pebbles, and sand that generativity is likely to flourish. The institutional rocks must provide the resources and stability to ensure that there is legitimate generative hope for the future in this community. In the case of Kalamazoo Michigan, this building of hope was critical, for like many American cities in the “rust belt” the economy was rapidly deteriorating. Few jobs were available. As a community banker, Kitchens had to provide smart and timely financial support that would aid the recovery. The pebble institutions are also critical. People must be fed and cared for, and the citizenry must be educated about the complex challenges that the community faces–otherwise, civic engagement and Generativity Four will be short-lived, misplaced and misunderstood. The sandy generativity fills in the community’s gaps, providing the glue that holds it together even during times of hardship and insecurity about the future. The generative society, then, would seem to be a bowl filled with Kitchen’s rocks, pebbles and sand.
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