Communities Accept Us for Who We Are

David Brooks affirms the theory that communities accept us for who we are, in his essay “Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia.” Brooks defends suburban communities by describing the criticisms that they face from society. Brooks describes suburbia as "the products of the same religious longings and the same deep tensions that produced the American identity from the start,” (185). Brooks’ quote is a wonderful example of why communities exist in the first place. Communities accept us for who we are by conforming to these different beliefs and tensions.

Brooks takes us all on a journey through many different communities in the suburban society, from the "crunchy suburbs" to the "exurbia." All of the communities have one thing in common and that is acceptance. The reason people travel to these communities is for the acceptance of others who are like them. Brooks states that "immigrants used to settle in cities and then migrate out, but now many head straight for suburbia," (186). Everyone has a place in a community, which is why we all flock to them. "He has come to be surrounded by regular, friendly people," (187-8). Most everyone desires to be surrounded by those whom are happy and friendly. Communities allow us to be surrounded by those people and accept and appreciate others for wanting to be a part of them.

With the same affirmation that communities accept us for who we are, comes the challenge of that acceptance. Brooks states that Americans "have become too concerned with small and vulgar pleasures," (188). The ideal that we all must keep up with the Jones' and one-up our neighbors creates a negative spin on community acceptance. Americans feel that they need to be "consumerist, wasteful, complacent, materialistic and self-absorbed," (188) in order to be accepted.

Communities are everywhere. When a person finds a community that wants to change them, it is easy to find a new community that accepts you for who you are. Too many people get caught up in the storm of outdoing those around us to be accepted, when they could just find the right community for them and erase all those concerns. I feel that Brooks’ essay gave great insight and allowed me to look deeper into the purposes of communities. All communities, whether they are communities of homes, religious communities, political communities, etcetera, are all born with a single goal - to commune.