What is the essence of dedication?
What is the essence of community?
Often the people who have been the most dedicated have a lot of trouble recognizing anything but the most surface level concept of dedication in others. It's not just "who shows up all the time". There are people who are working fanatically to get their body rehabilitated so they can eventually train again, people who put in hours and hours of time into physically building a new dojo or doing the finances or the marketing, people who go out to other teachers looking to build their experiences and make their overall aikido better, etc. They aren't doing it for a thank you - they are doing it because they understand about how valuable having such a practice is.
I have found that there is no shortage of dedication in aikido. The question about what the essence of community is a much harder one. Dedication to community will make or break a dojo. If your community gets strong enough - it will be the vehicle in which your sensei will be able to deliver their aikido message(s). And in my opinion, it is the ONLY way that can be accomplished.
Often, people form committees to get things done at aikido dojos and there is often an issue with control. I was reading this link:
http://www.wright.edu/~scott.william...delegating.htm
Anyone have other, better insights to such things?
Rob