Dual citizenship in two neighborhoods and two worlds

Blog neighborhood May 17, 2008

I live in two neighborhoods. I have the unique privilege of living in one neighborhood just outside Fayetteville city limits which has a rural feel, and another neighborhood about 55 minutes away which definitely is rural. In my country neighborhood, we all agree that being prepared for emergencies is a good thing, but people haven’t been too enthusiastic about coming together to talk about how we can prepare. But I have found finally something that people are excited about—learning about wild edibles. Two men volunteered to help—one volunteered his eighteen year old son who has a lot of knowledge, and the other volunteered his front lawn for a gathering place. I have not put a lot of energy into this neighborhood for years because of various challenges that have arisen, but I have been praying for a breakthrough. I think this is a breakthrough.

As a practitioner of the process and consciousness of non-violent communication as taught by Marshall Rosenberg, I have learned that if I can be aware that everyone has needs, that everyone has the same basic needs, and everyone is equally deserving of getting their needs met, then I will be more successful in my attempts to create community. When I had a conversation with the men I just mentioned about being prepared for emergency as a neighborhood, I uncovered a need they had—to know about how to forage for food.

The need for food, water, and air are our most basic physical diseases. No one argues about these needs! So I am glad to finally find a way to connect. I really believe that when we connect, rub shoulders in cooperation and learning, then love can grow. Our differences can be transcended. We can discover that even though we might have different spiritual beliefs, we can work together.

I really like the fact that our Living Springs neighborhood has potlucks every Sunday after a church service. Going to the church service is not mandatory for being able to come to the potluck, so I drop in on the potluck when I am in the neighborhood. A few other folks, including my daughter who does not enjoy the service, attend as well. One of the reasons I am so passionate about a weekly community gathering in every neighborhood is my experience of our weekly potlucks which have been going on for 7 years. Here announcements are made, appointments are set up, conversations about cooperating and helping each other take place, ideas are born and carried out. I was delighted that all I had to do was bring up the topic of emergency preparation, and although at first there seemed to be a belief that no one would want to get together—as the discussion continued the class to teach about wild edibles unfolded. Within just an hour everything was organized. This is so much easier than trying to connect by email or phone, especially these days when everyone is so busy. Usually it takes about 3 people to organize an event, and getting together more than 2 people can be difficult.

Maybe that is one of the reasons why Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered together, there am I also.” Yes, we can gather in chat rooms, and even conference calls—but I think that back then Jesus for saw that we would have a great need to gather in person.

A few families from our neighborhood attended a home school graduation for three boys, including my son, who we determined had graduated from high school, meaning that now they were in charge of their own learning.

We had to travel over 4 hours to the place, and chose to spend the night at a hotel. The increased bonding and friendship that happens just by participating in something like this is astonishing. I got to talk to the young man who will be teaching the class to plan some logistics. I shared with another mom the importance of learning this skill—I think she and her family will now come. I have a list of things to do like put up a flier—in fact I made the flier in a spare moment. I was going to make a flier, but realized that if I was going to get one up in our little town of Kingston I would need to make one by hand. Again, conversations with intention to learn, connect, collaborate are powerful!

Well, it has been a nice weekend and now I am eager to get home to visit with some folks who live in are larger neighborhood of Madison county who want to help sponsor a larger Skill Share where people can teach each other all kinds of productive skills so we can do more than survive the hard times—we can thrive!