You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

There's this saying, everybody wants a village, but no one wants to be a villager.

I saw Priya Parker post about this online.

She's a conflict resolution facilitator, an author of The Art of Gathering.

So she thinks about community and relationships a lot.

When I post on Instagram dozens of types of gatherings that other people are doing, in part to inspire people to host more gatherings because we have a loneliness crisis.

The majority of the comments I get, the DMs I get are, oh, I wish I was invited to something

like that.

One time she posted the obituary of a man in New Orleans who hosted these Monday night

dinners where he'd cook red beans and rice and invite neighbors,

friends, and strangers to his table.

He hosted thousands of people over many years.

And this post, it went viral.

And what's interesting to me about it going viral, the majority of the comments were,

I wish I was invited to a dinner like that.

And I'm thinking, host one, host one, host it, right?

The best way to get a seat at the table is to host the table.

And I think right now, everybody's longing for community.

We long to be part of a village. We long to have people

come over and help us. But when's the last time you've hosted something? When's the last time

you have helped somebody move? When's the last time you pick somebody up at the airport?

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