Welcome to the forum, tradesman:

Glad to read of yet another who gets the significance inherent in community association....not merely to survive , but to hone the skills necessary to "get along", creatively...where interpersonal appreciation/collaboration of practical skills beget more of the same.
That is part of the "whole is greater than the sum of its parts", and it includes expansive, inclusive vision, collective wisdom .
These, in turn induce further "values" which might otherwise have been disregarded in favour of solely "practical skills" as the main measure of communitarian worth.