Recently, I’ve begun to feel more and more that our sense of community is lost. Everywhere I turn, I see polarizing views—an “us versus them” mentality. They think differently, so therefore they are my enemy. It feels like the idea of loving your neighbor has been fractured.

All we see on the news anymore are extreme, radical views and radical acts. The world feels so full of hate, violence, and opposition. But it’s not just the world—it’s our community. The hate is close to home.

But is our home even a community anymore?

I don’t think you can call a place a community when you’ve become accustomed to despising your neighbor because they voted for the opposite party.

I don’t think you can call a place a community when you feel you must shout your views to silence someone else’s.

I don’t think you can call a place a community when you feel you cannot love your neighbor.

Our community is polarized and radical. But no one group is at fault for this. Whether it’s the right, the left, or something in between—we are all at fault for radicalizing our views and forgetting to love our neighbors.

I know that I want to live in a place where I feel a sense of community. I want to be able to love my peers and my neighbors, no matter what their views are. I don’t want to be a radicalized person who hates their neighbor simply because we think differently. I believe that with all of the radical hate we are seeing in the world, we need to have a community we can lean on—one that isn’t radical, but rad.

Because in a rad community, you feel loved, not hated.

In a rad community, you can look out your window, see your neighbor’s political sign, and not feel any resentment.

In a rad community, you still love your neighbors, your peers, and your coworkers—even after you learn they have different views than you.

In a rad community, you feel you can lean on the people around you without feeling judged.

I am going to make an effort to love my peers and my neighbors, no matter what.

I would encourage everyone else to do the same.

Let’s be rad people. Let’s be rad neighbors. Let’s build a rad community.