A Vision of Community
(Read from Impact20 – 20 somethings ministry at Elmbrook Church, Brookfield, Wi)
Pot-shot positions, groundless assertions and single-issue zealotry deserve little attention and less respect.
It took me a few years to recognize this, a few more to admit it.
The discussions I was a part of … challenged me to create a more intentional, coherent vision of our community by identifying strengths and pleasant eccentricities and building on these a vision of people living differently.
Those strengths most salient and valuable lay within the non-monetary, inherently egalitarian public sphere: public parks, downtown farmers’ markets, community concerts, ethnic and cultural celebrations, the library and any sidewalk or street not ruled de facto by the automobile.
The quality of private investment in the community is an illustrious achievement and perpetual source of pride and potential as well. This goes beyond sponsorship and branding of events into genuine collaboration involving individuals in the community through internship opportunities, staffing community initiatives and programs with employees, and collaborating on a downtown redevelopment effort that is human-scale, democratic and local.
A finial strength worth mentioning is the so-called “changing demographic” … This phenomenon demands not the fear of changing needs or a bemoaning of the loss of what once was, but the celebration of what is to come. Changing family structures, cultural backgrounds and age distributions among … residents are true sources of community growth and a breathing of new life into an area with much potential.
To the degree that we admire and anticipate aspects of the community as it is, it’s important also that he individual vision for the community is informed by experience and capable of regeneration.
As i navigate residential evening streets otherwise excluding safety and serenity, the number of flickering blue living rooms is astounding. A friend outlined this tension to me yesterday by saying, “I wish TV wasn’t so good. I wish I could sit in front of it and say with conviction that I am not thoroughly entertained, say that I will certainly not be sitting here in half an hour.”
As with the explosion of … bars demand expands supply. My vision is of a community where the demand for public-sphere events and infrastructure is ridiculously strong. Where parks edge out parking lots, where bike lanes on all arterial streets become a necessity if the meager volume of automobile traffic which remains is to flow, and where free concerts, community meals, festivals, forums, independent media projects, galleries, gardens and parades are more riveting, more beautiful and more satisfying than the best that isolated technological experience has to offer.
Written by a member of the Appleton, WI community
