Healing Our Nation Starts at the Community Level
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Consider this way of looking at the world. What if we saw every child as our child, every neighborhood as our neighborhood, and every community as our community? If we thought this way, would we act differently in our response to the turmoil happening across the country?
We’re all struggling and the pain our nation is feeling is trickling down into our communities. And while much of what’s happening is beyond our control, and certainly leadership and policy decisions must happen on a national level, locally is where we can make a real difference. Building communities where people feel safe and loved is the key to moving our nation forward. We all need to come together to make it happen. There is no other option now.
The healing we desperately need requires relationship building, the heart of which is listening to each other. It’s the only way we’ll be able to have open and honest dialogue. This starts with neighbors talking to neighbors.
Over the years it has been easy to detach from the neighborhood concept. With all the mobility we have been afforded, we’ve come to think of ourselves as rugged individualists. Yet we all have a deep human need to feel that we have a home, that we matter, and that we belong. People are longing for connection—even more now after nearly three months of fear and isolation.
So here is a challenge for us all: let’s use the past few months (and especially the past two weeks) as an impetus to reach out, connect, love, and heal. Let’s engage and include everyone. Let’s change our attitude toward our neighbors. If we can start to think of every child as our child, it changes our mindset and we’ll start to make good decisions that work for everyone.
I am reminded of the story of Dr. Donald Liu. Back in 2012, Dr. Liu was chief of pediatric surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children’s Hospital. In August of that year, he jumped into Lake Michigan to save two young boys from drowning. Though the boys made it back to shore safely, Dr. Liu did not. He literally gave his life for children who were not his own, just because that’s how he saw the world. In his eyes, every child was his child.
As community leaders and citizens, we can all keep this attitude in mind with every decision we make. Yes, we have big problems to solve, but we can approach them with the mindset that we truly are all in this together.
One many unsung heroes from today's #MinneapolisCleanup efforts: the resupply squads offering water and snacks to reenergize people. Remarkable cooperation from today's coverage of #Minneapolis #LakeStreet pic.twitter.com/2hnpVAGsqe
— Yves De Jesus (@yvesmanqo) May 31, 2020
Building strong, engaged communities will give us a foundation for moving forward. It will allow us to accelerate the solutions we need right now. To make this happen will require coming together of hearts, souls, and minds.
We need all government officials, businesses, non-profits, community institutions, and citizens on board and collaborating. We can no longer afford not to work together in a meaningful way.
Doing so requires action and practical application. It means leaders from all sectors need to go where disenfranchised people live so they can see what’s happening. (Only when you’re on the ground can you see reality.) It means including all groups and giving them a real voice. It means providing real and meaningful civic education. It means fostering economic opportunity for all. It means you see every child as your child.
We are at a turning point. We need all communities in America to work together if we are to survive. That means all key players inside each community have to realize we need each other. Business needs government. Government needs business. Businesses need other businesses. We all need citizens who think of themselves as members of the same family.
A community is an ecosystem. It has to be symbiotic. Rugged individualism doesn’t work. We all want to heal our nation. When we all come together inside our communities we can create cultures of love where we can all thrive. Imagine what the world could look like if every community worked this way.
Every child is our child. Every neighborhood is our neighborhood. Every community is our community. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Let’s keep these words in mind as we move forward toward healing.
About the Author
Quint Studer is author of Building a Vibrant Community: How Citizen-Powered Change Is Reshaping America and Wall Street Journal bestseller The Busy Leader’s Handbook: How to Lead People and Places That Thrive. He is founder of Pensacola’s Studer Community Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on improving the community’s quality of life, and Vibrant Community Partners, which coaches communities in building out a blueprint for achieving growth and excellence. Quint speaks and works with communities across the country, helping them execute on their strategic plans, create a better quality of life, and attract and retain talent and investment. He is a businessman, a visionary, an entrepreneur, and a mentor to many. He currently serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of West Florida, Executive-in-Residence at George Washington University, and Lecturer at Cornell University.
For more information, please visit www.thebusyleadershandbook.com, www.vibrantcommunityblueprint.com, and www.studeri.org.
With regular repetition, community cleanups build something that’s lasting: a sense of commitment, pride, and place attachment.