Last week, my Alderbrook neighbors and I cleaned up the somewhat neglected entry to our neighborhood. It took a social media app (not Facebook), at least one spark plug person to point out the obvious need and set a target date, and before you know it people were coming out of the woodwork to work on a common goal: clean up the entrance to the neighborhood.
This was one of the most satisfying days of my year. I didn’t need the larger goal of world peace, a healed planet or a chicken in every pot. I just needed to see that my neighbors and I agreed the entry needed to be cleaned up. I bet we could find a lot to disagree on, but this was common ground. In a neighborhood of several hundred families, we got about a dozen people to participate, but that is a start. I hope we get more for the next effort, but it won’t change the goal.
Why does this qualify as a Letter to the editor, you might ask? As I am not the editor, I’m not sure that it will. My point is that things get done at the local level. A community is nothing more than a collection of individuals with some form of common purpose. I went to a city council meeting and watched people trying to get something bigger accomplished, but we just want the entrance to look nice. Oh, and we want a street light, now it seems more complex, but we will keep it simple. I digress. As more people become involved, and momentum is gained, we’ll go for the street light.
Back to the purpose of the Letter to the Editor…
I have seen a lot of hand wringing and gnashing of teeth in regards to the presidential election. People who are normally not very political are up in arms about the results of the presidential election and the president-elect. There is very little we can do about that, but if you want to show care, compassion and love for your neighbor, do it with a rake and a leaf blower. It is very calming. Go into your neighborhood and get involved. It just takes one spark and a common purpose and before you know it, you find out you have a lot more in common with your neighbors than you may know. It feels great.
And world peace would be nice!
Jim Dobbins, Federal Way