Tom Finneran: Six Things A Community Has To Have

Friday, June 21, 2013

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Mayberry is more than the sum of its parts...can you say the same for your community?

We make our homes, dream our dreams, and lead our lives in little neighborhoods across the state. City kids love the action of the streets. Country folks love the hills and dales, the peace and quiet of the woods and meadows. To each his own, live and let live, and all that…

The question is what makes a place more than just a place, more than just an address, more than just a mail drop? What makes a house a home? And what makes a community a Mayberry, a place where people know and care for each other?

Most of us have children and some of us have grandchildren and we know how crucial schools can be in their lives. The best communities to call home are those where the parents are engaged in the schools. The engagement of the adults insures the engagement of the children and that is all that is needed for most teachers to prepare and shape the next generation of American leaders. Show me an engaged set of parents and teachers, and I’ll show you a nice place to live.

Flee, flee for your lives should you happen to find yourself in a community where people are indifferent about the schools. Pack your bags and your belongings and get your family out of there before sundown, for that is a place which has no hope and no faith in the future. Even the most illiterate and poverty-stricken immigrant or refugee that ever made it to America seemed to have an instinctive understanding that education was the key to unlocking the American dream. I am at a loss to explain the indifference of distracted adults when it comes to the education of their children. It is appalling, it is inexplicable, it is inexcusable and it is why I say to clear out of there quickly. No good will come out of that situation.

I think that college towns have a vital energy. Worcester and Providence and Boston have advantages that flow from the annual influx of smart kids who want to get smarter and grow up. I’ll take a New England college town any day of the week over some fancy gated community in Florida or Arizona. Those places are glorified waiting rooms for orthopedic surgeons and funeral directors. College kids bring life everywhere they go…their raw energy adds spice to a town, and spice is good.

Churches, active churches, are often overlooked in calculating the quality of life in our cities and towns. An engaged flock of believers is by definition thinking spiritually, with a commitment to improving in some small way their little corner of God’s vineyard here on Earth. Those churches and their congregations are a powerful force for good. Treasure them.

So too scouting. Look for active Boy and Girl Scout chapters and you will find a happy place to live. Yes, it’s “old school” and a throwback to an earlier simpler time in our history. Cherish the presence of Scouting for it is swimming against the tides of a degenerate culture.

Small convenient shops are also part of the recipe for good living. I like Walmart, Home Depot, and other chains as much as anyone but is there anything better than a local butcher, baker, or fish merchant? Oh for the delightful aromas of a neighborhood bakery…or to drop in at a local hardware store where they not only know your name but they also know that you have no idea how to replace a window pane. To be on the receiving end of good advice, to really feel that your business is appreciated, to experience the patient teaching and sharing of helpful hints, is like heaven on earth.

Traditions too count for something. Here in Boston we start the New Year with an icy plunge into Boston Harbor. February is truly a ghastly month of cold and darkness but then we sing and dance our way through St. Patrick’s Day parades and roasts…soon followed by the glories of Opening Day, the Boston Marathon, college commencements, and Memorial Day observations. Then come the concerts, cookouts, and parades celebrating July 4th and the unofficial start of New England summers, soon followed once again by that influx of incoming college freshmen for their orientations, both formal and informal.

These are the rhythms of our lives and the places we call home, the various Mayberries of Massachusetts. May God bless your home.