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"It's amazing how much can be done
when it doesn't matter who gets the credit".
attributed to George C. Marshal
HOW TO BUILD COMMUNITY
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Turn off your TV
Leave your house
Know your neighbours
Look up when you are walking
Greet people
Sit on your step
Plant flowers
Use your library
Play together
Buy from local merchants
Share what you have
Help a lost dog
Take children to the park
Garden together
Support neighbourhood schools
Fix it even if you didn't break it
Have pot luck
Honour elders
Pick up litter
Read stories aloud
Dance in the street
Talk to the mail carrier
Listen to the birds Put up a swing
Help carry something heavy
Barter for your goods
Start a tradition
Ask a question
Hire young people for odd jobs
Organize a block party
Bake extra and share
Ask for help when you need it
Open your shades
Sing together
Share your skills
Take back the night
Turn up the music
Turn down the music
Listen before you react to anger
Mediate a conflict
Seek to understand
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard
Work to change this
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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
concerned citizens can change the world;
indeed it's the only thing that ever does".
Margaret Mead
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If you have already exhausted that list
and want an even bigger challenge...
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HOW TO BUILD GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Think of no one as "them"
Don't confuse your comfort with your safety
Talk to strangers
Imagine other cultures through their art, poetry and novels
Listen to music you don't understand
Dance to it
Act locally
Notice the workings of power & privilege in your culture
Question consumption
Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown
Wake up and smell the exploitation
Look for fair trade and union labels
Help build economies from the bottom up
Acquire few needs
Learn a second (or third) language
Visit people, places, and cultures - not tourist attractions
Learn people's history
Re-define progress
Know physical and political geography
Play games from other cultures
Watch films with subtitles
Know your heritage
Honor everyone's holidays
Look at the moon and imagine someone else, somewhere else, looking at it too
Read the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Understand the global economy in terms of people, land and water
Know where your bank banks
Never believe you have a right to anyone else's resources
Refuse to wear corporate logos
Defy corporate domination
Question military/corporate connections
Don't confuse money with wealth, or time with money
Have a pen/email pal
Honor indigenous cultures
Judge governance by how well it meets all people's needs
Be skeptical about what you read
Eat adventurously
Enjoy vegetables, beans and grains in your diet
Choose curiosity over certainty
Know where your water comes from and where your wastes go
Pledge allegiance to the earth
Question nationalism
Think South, Central and North - there are many Americans
Assume that many others share your dreams
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard
Work to change this
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