PRESIDENT’S CORNER
2014-February
by Kyle Jensen, MHA President
Our surroundings—people and places—mold us into the citizens we are today. Whether or not this plays a role in choosing to do the right thing when faced with a decision is an ongoing topic of discussion. I believe our upbringing and the neighborhoods in which we live are the determining factors in making us into the unique beautiful people we are today. Both have a large impact on why we make the decisions we make, act the way we do, and function the way that we do in society.
It is so important to keep in mind that our neighborhood has had and continues
to have a direct impact on us as individuals and as citizens. We are all capable of doing the right thing when presented with a difficult decision.
Each of us has experienced some good from others, whether it was a neighbor, teacher, community leader, sibling, or parent. Kindness and compassion are things we hold close to us, imitate, and never forget.
As members of the community the officers and a number of volunteers we worked very hard to provide information for a directory as a source of support for the residents of Mistletoe Heights. This tool has been proven in the past to help connect neighborhoods and provide those everlasting bonds that shape us. With each new resident our neighborhood changes; in my three years here I've witnessed this and have met a dozen new residents.
However my wife, Stephanie, recently commented on our lack of true friends, even mere acquaintances, in this neighborhood. Our jobs add work friends to our world, as well as people we met through socializing, often with those same coworkers. But the couple two doors down with two teenagers?
The athletic residents on the other end of the block with the bountiful pear trees? The 30-somethings, like us, who sometimes sip wine on their front porch? They are strangers.
I have lived in other communities for years and never knew my neighbors. You may be someone that has lived in Mistletoe Heights for years and still are an unknown resident. Many new residents have joined the directory for the first time. Neighbors offered as much about themselves as they wanted: next to nothing, or all the way up to the names and ages of people in the family.
I hope most of us have been thinking about community a bit more in the wake of my tenure as president of this association. It is my goal to compel you to get to know your neighbors: find out about the vacant house a few doors down, the pile of college kids renting the split- level the next block over, learn about the van that has been parked at the corner for a week, the loud popping noises — champagne? gunfire? blown transformer?—that sounded through the neighborhood one Saturday at 2:15 a.m.
I think we all can agree that familiarity with neighbors far outweighs cluelessness about them, that a close-knit community trumps one steeped in anonymity and insularity. A directory, of course, won't accomplish all of this. People do. But without the directory, I doubt we can build these foundations that we hope leads to something real.
To friendships, to some sense of community spirit, to a fresh attentiveness to the people, animals, events, and dwellings in this place we call home. Look for your directory soon.
Get connected. Be more engaging. We have lots of avenues to help make this an easy process. Join us as we make an effort to clean up our neighborhood and improve quality of life for us all.
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Facebook Chat Room www.facebook.com/groups/ mhneighbors
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NextDoor page www.mistletoeheights.nextdoor.com
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Webpage www.mistletoeheights.org/contact
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Next neighborhood meeting
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The back of the newsletter