The Blockwatch Beat is standing up to fear and asking every single one of you to do the same.
What do we have to fear except the concept of fear itself? How many of us have not done the right thing for our community or the good thing for ourselves because of the atmosphere of fear – fear of reprisal for turning in a criminal, fear of loss, fear of the unknown?
All of you know by now that the city of Columbus is in a budget crisis. This affects our corner of the world in many ways. Fewer police officers and fire fighters, Community Crime Patrol cut in half, the park needing more maintenance by volunteers….you name it, we are going to be scrambling in 2009 to take care of ourselves and our community. Yes, especially our community.
In troubling times, we must pull together and work for the greater good of our neighborhood. Reach out that helping hand to your neighbors who are sometimes not your friends. If we are going to pull through this, we have to remove fear from the table and replace it with bravery.
Being brave does not mean putting you or your loved ones intentionally in harm’s way. It means that you will stand up to the drug dealers, the panhandlers, the criminal element.
What would our neighborhood be like if each and every one of us stood up, walked out and said “No!” to those destroying our community with their illegal actions?
How about if all of us walked outside to the neighbors that we’ve never met and introduced ourselves? An interesting phenomenon on the battlefield is that men have a hard time killing others that they have made a connection with; just watch the foreign film “Joyeux Noel.” Would it be so easy for us to stay silent at the injustice of drug peddling, senseless violence and shootings, prostitution – the list goes on – if we knew our neighbors, the victims, and were willing to say “Stop”?
How many of us had the neighbor lady tattle on us to our mom before we even got home and then we got in trouble…what is wrong with that? When did we stop holding each other accountable for our actions? When did we stop supporting those who are fighting the good fight? Is it too hard or is too much fear involved?
In the absence of righteous action, evil action will take place – there will be no vacuum – it will be filled and filled indeed with that which we could do without.
The Blockwatch Beat urges you to become involved in your community organizations, step out of your comfort zone and realize that you don’t always need spring to see beauty and joy bloom in your own front yard.
Lisa Grazier is coordinator of the Camp Chase Blockwatch.
