The Beauty of Community: From Busytown to Being Human

Kelly Herron
Oct 18
3 min read

“We are not meant to do life alone.”

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on what it means to live in community — not just in theory, but in the simple, daily rhythms of being human together. Three voices keep coming to mind: Richard Scarry’s Busytown, Thomas Hübl’s teachings on community and collective healing, and bell hooks’ vision of building community through love.

Each, in their own way, points to a truth I keep returning to: life is lived best in community.

1. The Simple, Connected World of Busytown

If you grew up with Richard Scarry’s Busytown books, you probably remember that cozy, bustling world where cats, pigs, rabbits, and foxes work and play side by side. Every creature has a role, and every role matters. A bear teaches schoolchildren. A goat fixes potholes. A pig runs the bakery.

There’s no hero’s journey in Busytown — just a collective hum of everyday life. Each page is filled with neighbors collaborating, helping, learning, and laughing.

One writer described it as a “real, simple, loving, connected” world — a place where the rhythm of work and care is woven into the same fabric. Another article captures it beautifully:

“The Busytown books … grew into a real-feeling big world that Scarry seemed to be letting little ones into.”— The Allure of Busytown on Literary Hub

Busytown reminds us that community isn’t an abstract ideal — it’s built moment by moment, in the way we show up for each other. It’s not glamorous, but it’s deeply good.

2. Thomas Hübl: The Depth of Being Together

If Busytown is the playful picture of connection, Thomas Hübl brings us into its sacred depth. Hübl teaches that true community is built through presence, intention, and vulnerability.

“We only exist as relationships; the more flowing and open they are, the more we are in a state of well-being or health.”— Thomas Hübl, Our World is Rooted in Collective Intimacy

He invites us to see community as a living field — a place where we not only share joy, but also hold one another’s pain. We witness. We are witnessed. We heal.

Hübl calls this “collective intimacy,” and it requires courage. It asks us to bring our raw, true selves into connection — appropriately, gently, honestly — because only then can we experience the transformation that comes through real presence.

Community, in this light, isn’t just an invaluable comforting rhythm — it’s transformational.

3. bell hooks: Building a Community of Love

bell hooks described community as one of the highest expressions of love and justice. In Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope, she reminds us that building community is a radical act — a commitment to love, to belonging, to mutual care.

“For one of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know we are not alone.”— bell hooks

She and Thich Nhat Hanh once spoke together about what it means to create a community of love — not just a social network, but a spiritual one. A community where people can be fully human together. You can read their beautiful dialogue here: Building a Community of Love on Lion’s Roar.

hooks believed that community gives us both strength and accountability — a place to live out our ethics and our care. In her words:

“There can be no love without justice.”

When we build with love, inclusion, and intention, community becomes the very ground of liberation.

4. Life is Lived Best in Community

Bringing these three worlds together — Scarry’s simple, bustling harmony; Hübl’s depth of vulnerability; hooks’ vision of love and justice — I keep landing on this truth: life is lived best in community.

Community gives us: