Neighborhood Pride Day

The neighborhood cleanup is fast approaching. It is tentatively scheduled for the 2nd Saturday of May. All of a sudden, the amount of time between now and then doesn't seem like a lot to me. I was granted some seed money from SCI Lynn, but the success of this event depends on the local community, the neighborhood, buying into it.

In this vein, I read something in the Boston Phoenix in November about Peter Thomson, founding editor of producer of the NPR envirnomental news show "Living on Earth." Mr. Thomson wrote a book called "Sacred Sea" about his journey to Lake Baikal in Russia, the deepest body of fresh water in the world. Here's an excerpt from that article, written by Nina MacLaughlin:

"We are fundamentally a part of an infinite number of relations," says Thomson. "Everything we do reverberates." And he stresses the importance of people's relationships to place: our lives are defined by the places we live and work and visit, "and ultimately, whether those places are preserved and protected and treated well comes down to how much people are willing to fight for them."

I don't think this just applies to places of such natural beauty and importance as Lake Baikal. Lynn is our place, and our lives are defined by it. When you go outside and see the street strewn with litter, how does that make you feel? If we do not treat this place in which we live with dignity and care, it reflects back on us.

Who is this "we"? The residents, the city employees, the mayor, the police, business owners, in short, eveyone who lives and works here. This is our neck of the woods so to speak, and how well we treat it has everything to do with the quality of life here. One of us by him or herself can't make much of a difference, but together, we can.

If I can borrow a phrase from a previous clean-up held here in Lynn, it is up to each of us together to "show the beauty within." Taking more pride in the place in which we live is just one way to acheive this goal.