It takes a Village to Raise a Child

The Vicar of Dibley is on catch up!  Geraldine Granger on demand is a guaranteed smile and a laugh out loud.  For anyone unfamiliar with Dawn French in her iconic role as the vicar in the village of Dibley; you are missing a classic.  Decades on, the humour is maybe not quite PC, but it is nonetheless side splittingly entertaining.

But beyond the rip roaring humour, there is something a little deeper, a little more subtle, and meaningful; albeit presented in an oftentimes brash fashion.  The parish council, upon which the series centres, is a community in microcosm; with mutually supportive human interaction where differences are resolved, quirks accepted and everyone belongs.  It stands, in gentle defiance, against the alienation one can often feel in the high octane world that many of us inhabit.  “It takes a village to raise a child” is an old proverb that reminds us of the importance of community; of shared values, of reciprocal caring; because we none of us exist in a vacuum and all of us need companionship and a space in which we can be located and thrive.  We cannot all live in a fictitious ideal village but communities are formed by people small acts of kindness.   We can live in harmony with our neighbour and we can extend a helping hand and a warm smile to those around us every day.  This is our Dibley.