center for a better tomorrow

Yesterday, together with my colleague Martin, I set out to help the old granary, which is gradually to be turned into a community center.

When I wrote in advance that we were going there, it was clear to me that a few haters would appear again. And yes, too. Mostly fake profiles or people who have probably never experienced that beautiful feeling when you help someone just because you want to. Not because you have to. Not because you get paid for it. Simply because you take it for granted.

I was guided completely differently. I spent my teenage years in the village, and there it was completely normal that if someone needed help, they just did. Beets were dug, potatoes were collected, work was done around the house or in the garden. No one decided what he would get out of it. Help was a part of life. And I think this is exactly what I carry with me to this day.

On the way, we also took away some clothes, which, after receiving them, I always send to a place where they will make me happy and serve me well.

When we arrived at the site, we immediately set to work. And I have to say that I haven't experienced something like this in a really long time.

Perhaps for the first time in my life, I saw people who literally stole their work. And even tools. You put the broom away for a while and in a few minutes someone else was sweeping with it. You jumped away from the window you were cutting, and when you returned, another volunteer was already working on it. Everyone wanted to contribute. Everyone wanted to be useful.

And the result? Several times more work was done than Dan originally planned.

But the work itself was not the most beautiful. It was the atmosphere. Laughter, mutual encouragement, simple conversations, willingness to help each other. Nobody played anything. We were simply people there who had a common goal.

After work, Dan's wife prepared snacks for us and Dan got down to cooking. Unfortunately, we already had to go back to Brno, because I had other duties waiting for me. But I left with a feeling that cannot be bought.

Today I have sore muscles that I didn't even know I had. And you know what? I actually enjoy the pain. It reminds me that I could be a part of something beautiful.

People from all over the country gathered there. From Pilsen, Hradec Králové, Šumperk and other places. No one had to come. Everyone could stay home and enjoy a free weekend. Yet they came. They put on work gloves and dedicated the whole day to a place that would one day serve others.

And what pleased me perhaps the most? That all generations met there. There were children running around, people of working age and those born earlier were working. Everyone contributed according to their abilities. No one discussed age, occupation or opinions. At that point, we were just a bunch of people pulling together. And precisely such moments give a person hope that things are not bad with us at all.

And that is precisely why the community center is being created.

Not just because of the building. But mainly because of the people. To learn to know our neighbors again. To let us know that when someone needs help, they won't be alone. So that children grow up in an environment where it is normal to shake hands. So that the younger ones can learn from the older ones and the older ones draw energy from the younger ones. And that the internet never tells us that goodness no longer exists among people.

Because it exists

I saw him everywhere yesterday.