Mike Squire

“In our tiny neighborhood within Waycross, we were what today is called an extended family. The children were under the general watch and care of all the adults. If we were asked to do an errand by any of the older members, it was not necessary for us to get permission from our parents. Reprimands were also freely given to the children by all the adults. Corporal punishment, however, was the exclusive prerogative of one’s own parents. My father’s death was only one of the many experiences I recall that bore the aura of caring of all, the sharing of all, during times of illness or suffering. The sick were cared for at home, for no hospitals were open to us other than the “pesthouse” on the outskirts of town, where smallpox victims were isolated. In every aspect of the common life, there was the sense of shared responsibility. Even the fast line between Baptist and Methodist yielded at this point.”
― Howard Thurman, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman