Citizenship In The Community
Yes, there is room in the class. First meeting at 3:45 PM in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room on the second floor of the Town Office Building on Monday, January 12th. That is the building to the left of Cary Memorial Hall as you look at it. It is just past the Post Office.
Meeting Planning
Joey and Jeff led an impromptu brainstorming session at the last meeting. I was impressed by the input. Stay tuned for something different for the next meeting.
A Scout Is Helpful
I hyperextended my knee recently so it is a bit unstable and I can’t bend it fully. It doesn’t stop me from walking, I can shovel snow, and I don’t limp, but it makes me just a little fearful of a fall which would certainly tear something and little slips can be painful. That, plus the recently icy sidewalks, have reminded me of what it is like to have less than full mobility–how winter affects many of our neighbors and limits what they can do.
Today a bunch of us got together to shovel out the driveway of a person who couldn’t reasonably do the job all by themselves. The way I felt last week when I was trying to dig out my driveway and just couldn’t move the heavy snow. My neighbor came by and helped me with the heavy stuff so I then helped him with the lighter stuff. We can all do something, but nobody can do everything.
This note is to remind you to look around you. Besides digging out those hydrants and keeping the street drains clean, be alert to those around you who may need help with driveways and walks. Just digging out that berm the snowplow leaves, a relatively easy job for some, may save a neighbor hours of work and in some cases, it may allow them to actually get their car out instead of being trapped because they cannot move that much snow.
It might not even be mobility. Perhaps there are other stresses in lives like needing to get to work at odd hours or spending all available time caring for family members so small favors you can do like shoveling a walk may well help them a great deal.
There are other things you can do as well. My daughter noticed that a elderly neighbor of ours had gotten off the bus with some bags of groceries, but then cars were not stopping to let her cross the street. So she helped.
“A Scout Is Helpful. A Scout cares about other people. He willingly volunteers to help others without expecting payment or reward.”
That comes right from the handbook and it comes right from Robert Baden Powell. I think the rest of what Scouting stands for flows from that simple statement–A Scout Is Helpful.