Most of us have a general feeling that we ought to be doing more for our community, but, then, in the quickening pace of life, that becomes lost somewhere between gym membership and the book we’ve never read on the nightstand. Some, however, never succumb to that urge. Karen McCleave lawyer is just one of the many committed professionals and anchors of the community who are making a difference every day, without the backing of foundations and press releases. It is the responsibility of those who choose to take action – over and over again – for the people in their lives. The decision, which was for private and not glaring use, was indeed where everything started and most people lay still.
Real impact has a texture that you can’t fake it. It’s like the neighbour who drove someone to chemotherapy, without ever posting a single message about it, for six months. It is like a teacher in the retired years grading student papers at the dinner table, as one child needed someone to take him/her seriously. These are not ‘saintly’ incidents or stories restricted to ‘saints’ but incidents and stories that happen when there is a personal sense of responsibility for being close to another person’s struggle. All communities are not changed by people who can imagine how to be of help when they are far away, but they are changed by people who will get inconveniably close to the real problem, and will stay there long enough to see something change.
A very polished form of inaction is waiting for the perfect conditions, the more time, the more money, the more clarity. The communities don’t wait for ideal conditions and neither should the citizens of the community. A bad attempt, done over and over is better than a clean one, done once. Begin at the point where you can see something in your current location. That’s not being low; that’s being aware of the situation and acting upon it instead of what you think of it.
Relationship is the key to making a difference to the community – not much else. It’s trust, earned over hundreds of little things that are kept, that makes the fabric of neighborhoods hold.It’s trust, earned over hundreds of little things that are kept, that makes the fabric of neighborhoods hold. The folks who are most remembered in any community are not necessarily the folks who gave the most money, but the folks who made genuine and felt they were truly seen, valued, and not alone in the special noise of being human. It’s something that can be done by almost anyone — right now.