Community, What's the cost of Admission?

What does it cost to be part of a community?

This is something I was thinking about this morning. Communities are often a place where we go to get something friendship, companionship, knowledge but to truly be a part of a community we have have to put something back. maybe the same thing we get out or maybe some other needed element like finances. I am and have been a part of a myriad of communities and each one has it's own expectatons of it's members. All communities want knowledgeable members able to teach the next "generation" it's just what that knowledge is that makes each community different. I am hoping to start a boardgame group in the area, this will create another community for me to be part of. What are the costs? What are the benefits? is it worth it?

Yeah I think so, because if we lock into one small group or community, if we refuse to broaden our contacts outside of that community we lose something. We lose an opportunity to be challenged and grow often in unexpected ways. We also lose the opportunity to help other grow.