Issues of Scope and Scale

The Basic Issue

The task of Community Development is so large that it may be carried out at any level from which a person prefers to operate, or at which it might be most advantageous in a particular circumstance.

One of the problems with community development is that is it prone to discouragement because of such things as :

Cornelia Lehn, in her book Peace be With You, has a story of an obscure monk named Telemachus, about AD400 in Asia minor who did his own bit of community development all in about twenty minutes. The effect of his action continues to this day. This locally well-known monk got swept up in the crowd going to the gladiator games and was appalled at watching captured enemy soldiers fight to the death for their freedom. He rushed down and hopped into the ring, separating the soldiers. they tried to brush him aside, but when he would not be dissuaded, they killed him. A hush fell over the crowd. Honorius got up and left, the games ended, and were never held again.

At the other end of the scale, there are international agencies which do marvelous community development projects on a national and international scale. The level at which people wish to work, and the institutional context through which they wish to operate if not wide enough for all, is certainly open for expansion.

"Come on in, the water's fine!"

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