[Note: Blog posts are an ongoing series where EEMA members explore their personal views and experiences relating to issues of development and community organizing. While the general spirit of the postings may reflect the opinions and work of EEMA the views expressed have not been reviewed or agreed to by the group as a whole.]
If a neighbor down the street owned a snow blower or a lawn mower, would you ask to borrow it if you didn’t know them personally? Conversely, if you owned one would you consider lending it out to someone you didn’t know?
Most people wouldn’t. We work hard for the things we own. Often we’ve gone without access to something, so we’re reluctant to risk this new found security. We are socialized to think the other guy is out to take what we have. Is it worth it to take any risk at all when the benefit seems unclear?
There is some truth to this pessimistic view. Our current political and economic system is structured to reward the ability to pull one over on someone else. To make one a winner seems to necessitate a lot of people lose.
We’re being trained to distrust everyone and everything because if we aren’t ever-vigilant we get taken advantage of. If you’ve ever struggled to avoid fees and charges by understanding the yearly mailing your bank sends about its constantly revised “policies” you’re well aware of this reality.
You see it everywhere. The poor hustle the poor. The rich make large donations to politicians who coincidentally champion their interests. The government taking people’s land and homes through eminent domain so some big shot can make a buck. Look no further than the newest proposal to take away land owner’s choices on Marcellus drilling to see this kind of corruption at work.
The message seems to be that dishonesty pays, that money greases the wheels, and that only suckers trust.
As people retreat into the safety of their possessions the community suffers from waste and inefficient use of resources. How many blocks in Bloomfield have multiple snow blowers? How many Friendship homes have lawn mowers for small patches of grass?
It doesn’t need to be this way. Through building relationships of trust and accountability within our neighborhoods we can create a culture of sharing and mutual-aid. In the short term this could mean figuring out ways to pool and share our tools more widely while maintaining a high quality of life.
Who wouldn’t lend out a tool if they had reason to believe it’d come back, that if it broke or got stolen everyone else would quickly pool together the funds to replace it? This wouldn’t be another form of charity, because in such an arrangement you would also be gaining access to other tools you wouldn’t have to buy and a wider network of people who had the skills to repair these tools.
Ultimately, I favor a broader change in society to emphasize the use value of products rather than their exchangeability. In such a society things would be built to last and production would be primarily about meeting people’s needs rather than making profits. In the meantime I wouldn’t mind doing a little less shoveling and a little more sharing.
I posted this to a community site in lawrenceville and I think its along the similar idea
Loving your neighborhood means Loving your neighbors (even if it isn’t always easy)
I am Amanda, a lot of the time you can find me behind the counter at Perk Me Up, thats how I ended up talking with Cleo/ on the discussion board etc.
I have only been a part of this area for a couple of months now (My husband and I rent a home on 42nd st.) but something that I genuinely love about this Neighborhood is how welcoming it can be. I love that we are lucky enough to have some really accessible and beautiful green spaces here in Lawrenceville and I see a lot of area/effort to increase them due to opportunity/willingness to do so. On the reverse side of that I see discord/detachment among some residents whether it be over the obvious changes that are happening, to a lack of togetherness across the board, or the differences in attitude from one city block to another.
As much as I love myself a green movement what I cherish even more is a genuine sense of community where all parties feel validated, accepted etc. I had this sort of epiphany moment today with one of our regular customers, someone I consider to be a staple Floyd Martinuea(sp). He is an older gentleman who lives just a couple blocks away, he lives alone since his wife passed, he has stories for days, he is kind and funny and I look forward to seeing him whenever he stops by for a cup of coffee. We have tons of regular customers like Floyd, members of our neighborhood, retirees, widowers, veterans people with stories to tell, and plenty of time on their hands. Today he thanked me just for listening to some of those stories and sharing some of my time.
I think sometimes we get so caught up in our ideologies that we sometimes forget the strength and beauty that lives right around the corner from, if not next to us and while looking at the bigger picture we lose sight of the one nearest to us.
Floyd is the history of our neighborhood, my neighborhood and I think if we took sometime to look behind the doors on our streets and look for the sort of connection I made today we would be stronger than we thought.
Alright I’ve rambled on enough I think its time for my point/idea/who knows. I think it would be really interesting to do a sort of census of Lawrenceville, an attempt to connect one by one with our community members and not just the ones who are obvious and outspoken. I feel like talking to individuals not already involved in community activities about what they want/need from Lawrenceville and also what they can offer would be a good way to set a foundation, a good way to find out what skills/resources we have under our noses, and would result in some progress that won’t quickly fade or some action that doesn’t fizzle out as some members weighted with the burden of projects lose steam for lack of help.
Please, please please, email me or stop by and see me at the coffee shop and tell me if I’m dreaming,or crazy or totally of base here, or if through some odd circumstance you were thinking the same thing. Ideas on how to go about something like this, people who are on board, I’m really open for anything