L'Arche Kent from the inside

Question: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it…. does it make a noise? do the other trees point and laugh? does anyone care? I met a friend recently that I hadn't seen for a while. For me, she's always been this bubbly, talkative, slightly forgetful figure in my life. Yet she continually describes herself as shy, slightly awkward and a little quiet at times. We said goodbye and I returned to Rainbow house for supper. But on the way home I was left wondering – what is she? Is she quiet just because she says she is? Or is my experience of her what really counts – if people think you’re outgoing, are you outgoing, despite what you think of yourself? Are you an introvert because Myers Briggs tells you that you are? Who is your real you? I’ve never really got to an answer to the question; neither I guess have the psychological, philosophical and theological community so I don’t feel too stupid. Isaac Newton’s third law of Motion states...

Welcome to a blog of life in the L'Arche Kent Community. Life in a L'Arche Community is in many ways inseperable from life more generally, so I apologise now if my blog overspills. But maybe it should. No man is an island etc., and that goes double for communities. Apart from Island communities I guess. I've been in the community for about 20 months now. In some ways, like the Army, I was born into it - my brother used to live in Little Ewell house in Barfrestone (Kent) 17 years ago and my sister was in the L'Arche Bognor community about 10 years ago. Like the Army, my time also taught me to peel potatoes - lots of potatoes! As a house assistant in an international house you quickly learn to cook for many and potatoes are the United Nations of international cooking. Unlike the Army, I also learned to rattle a tambourine, bake a cake and blow up balloons. But more of that later. Welcome anyway. I'm not entirely sure how to write this blog, so I guess I'll just fo...