Healing the Heart of Democracy by Parker J. Palmer

Author:Parker J. Palmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781118907504
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

The Promise of Neighborhoods

For many of us, the strangers closest at hand are our neighbors. There was a time when that statement would have made no sense, when people who lived side by side knew each other at least slightly. Neighborliness has declined for reasons ranging from the disappearance of the front porch to the rise of the two-wage-earner family to online networks and e-mail replacing face-to-face conversation. And yet people still live side by side. Despite the obstacles to neighborliness, some have acted creatively to strengthen neighborhood bonds, aiding and abetting democracy in the process.19

Creativity of this sort often kicks in when there is an urgent problem to be solved. Take, for example, the neighborhood watch programs that have helped stem crime in urban and rural communities alike, programs that are the equivalent of putting the front porch back on people's homes.20 Now, instead of locking the doors and pulling the shades, neighbors take turns “standing watch” around the clock, keeping an eye on what is happening in their community.21 When they see suspicious activity, they call the police, turn on lights, and make noise, sending a clear message that this neighborhood is not easy picking for criminals.

These programs have proved to be safer and more effective than private solutions like handguns, which are often involved in murderous arguments between family members or friends or in tragic accidents involving children playing “cops and robbers.”22 The safest communities are not those with private arsenals, which can make private life more dangerous. They are those with a public life in which citizens take care of each other as well as themselves.23

But why wait for crime to inspire us to strengthen our neighborhoods? A neighborhood association, or a handful of enterprising neighbors, can do many simple things to encourage people to come out of isolation for a while and enjoy each other's company, developing a stronger sense of civic community in the process.24 In one neighborhood where I lived, a few families organized an outdoor potluck supper every summer. The street was closed off for a block, tables were set up on the pavement, people brought food and lawn chairs, some brought musical instruments, and many hung out until the sun went down or the kids needed to go to bed. The investment of time and energy was small. The returns on neighborliness were substantial.

In that same neighborhood, local schoolteachers enlisted the help of neighbors to create a community garden, giving residents a place to socialize as they grew vegetables and the teachers an outdoor classroom for their elementary school students.25 And a neighborhood association sponsored several annual holiday gatherings that allowed nearby neighbors to meet and make friends among what would otherwise have been a relatively faceless collection of commuters.

In yet another neighborhood, under the auspices of a community foundation, people deepened their social bonds through a “neighborhood resource catalog.” Neighbors were invited to submit descriptions of services they would be willing to volunteer, which were then distributed in print (and today could be posted on a Web site).

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