I don't like to fly. What's it called when the plane shakes? Turbulence, takeoffs... I grab my chair, close my eyes, count to 30, breathe, and pray.
Well it seems to me, that all real communities grow out of a shared confrontation with survival. Communities are not produced by sentiment or mere goodwill. They grow out of a shared struggle. Our situation in the desert is an incubator for community.