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August 2008
Building Bridges: Everyone Can Be A Bridge Builder by Betty Banks
In each edition of Voices, someone is featured as a
“bridge builder”. If we are to build community within neighborhoods,
between communities and with each other, it becomes everyone’s
responsibility to reach out and lend a hand, make a contribution,
share some insight or just give a pleasant greeting to someone who
needs to be uplifted. We all can be “bridge builders”.
The Allied Drive neighborhood is in the process of
being revitalized. Streets are being renamed and improved, housing is
being made more affordable and in general we will see some important
physical changes. With all of this happening, let us also “build some
bridges” of understanding.
Do you know those neighbors or residents who practice
English as their second language? How about that teen who needs to be
hopeful and is seeking a way to navigate a world that is becoming more
dangerous? There are young single parents who need someone to reach
out to them as they attempt to raise their children and give them
solid values that will help them build positive lives.
Is there an elderly person who needs their snow shoveled in the winter
and that trash hauled out year around? These are just a few examples
of those who live in our community and neighborhoods.
I read recently about how, in today’s society, we live
next door or down the street from people we never even speak to. The
article went on to give an example of one person who decided he was
going to get to know his neighbors by not just saying hello, but
actually talking to them.
During this journey to learn more about those who
shared his streets and sidewalks, he found people who appreciated the
help he was able to give them. One had been recently widowed and once
they got to know each other, they enjoyed sharing morning coffee and
conversation with each other.
Another was a person who needed help with small home
repairs that she was unable to do. His journey included others who
shared with him their same feelings about how too often we stay on the
move so fast that we forget we share this planet with others who we
see but don’t take time to find out who they are and if we can make a
difference in their lives. If it sounds too “Pollyanna” for you, try
to remember that you could become that person who feels left alone.
Our family members pass on and sometimes move away for any number of
reasons, leaving us behind. And so, this message is for
all of us who live anywhere. We have neighbors and others who, just
like us may not consciously realize that we have forgotten or have
never known how to reach out and touch another person through our
action and deeds.
Building community provides for a safer neighborhood
and a community that gives a better quality of life for all of us.
Here is a challenge. Get to know one other person in your
neighborhood.
Encourage others to be a bridge builder. You will be
glad you did!
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