October 1959 — Vol. 40, No. 8 —
Building a Better
Community
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Community, in the sense of "a better community" does not
mean a municipality, a trading area, or a district. There
is a richness in the word "community" that goes far beyond
all these and has something to do with the flowering of human
lives.
People in good communities are neighbours in the democratic
process. They co—operate and collaborate to solve problems
and make improvements. They are comprehended in St. Augustine's
definition of human society: a group, large or small, of people
united by agreement as to the things they love.
The dynamic quality that makes a community good does not
reside in the official structure, but in the interests, desires
and purposes of the people in it. If a community wishes to
improve itself in Canada it has freedom to try, without coercion
or external control. Citizen knowledge, interest and action
are the lifeblood of our democratic society.
A collection of houses, shops and factories may be as small
as a hamlet or as big as a metropolis. It may not be the most
beautiful in Canada, or the most efficient, or the most dignified
by public buildings and statues, but it can aspire to be a
lovable community. Its men and women can make it so.
Plato was strongly impressed with the social nature of man,
and with the need to think about society in its relation to
man's life. In his study of ethics, instead of enquiring into
the characteristics of a virtuous life in an individual, Plato
endeavoured first to determine the characteristics of a good
State. Having found what these are, he believed that it would
be perfectly easy to infer what are the characteristics of
a good man.
It seemed to Plato that there were four virtues required
for the existence of an ideal State: wisdom, courage, temperance
and justice. These are qualities which will serve as a standard
of judgment and behaviour in building a better community.
To have a community, men must work together; to have a better
community they must have common principles. Their individual
purposes need not be all the same, but the basic things in
which they believe must be identical. They must live by the
same rules.
The intimacy and stability of the small town or neighbourhood
have been severely shaken by technology and mobility. We find
it difficult to contrive new gadgets and yet hold fast to
old institutions and forms of behaviour. But we can be comforted
by the thought that if community life is somewhat imperfect
the fault can be corrected by more earnest planning and doing.
Sense of community
What is the core of community building? It is not a master
plan or a detailed blue—print, or the acquirement of
park space, or the flotation of loans. It is the spirit of
the people.
When neighbours start asking questions about the future
they are developing a community feeling. When they ask: "Where
are we heading; what can we do to make and keep our neighbourhood
a good place to live?" then they will find the resources to
face the furore with confidence and anticipation.
Most of us would admit that we are not satisfied with what
is mediocre. We have higher values. But to gain what is excellent
it is not enough that we wish for it. We need to exert ourselves
to get it, being dissatisfied to settle for anything less
than the best.
People cannot live in isolation, so they need to plan for
getting along together. Machines, possessions and utilities
are useful only to the extent that they add to the comfort
of living. They do not substitute for the feeling of friendship
and communion.
One of the exciting things about any neighbourhood is that
it consists of people who differ in background, in their recognition
of civic problems, and in their acceptance of proposed solutions.
We have a larger number of cultures represented in Canada
than in most countries of the world, and this merging of cultures
contributes to the richness and diversity of life. The varied
folkways, languages, customs, craft skills and ideals can
be shared, so that the community becomes the handiwork of
all.
Where there are different folkways, there is need of tolerance.
The good community is not built by people who think that their
preferred way of living is the only right way. We need skill
in the process of working together. We need to take our places
as members of groups. Our education system, recreation programmes
and progressive health plans can be deprived of their goodness
if we allow our community to become poisoned by bigotry or
snobbery.
Getting started
What are the causes of civic apathy? They include a feeling
of defeatism and discouragement; failure of the authorities
to bring civic matters within the field of interest and concern
of every representative segment of the people; failure to
communicate, to explain, to consult; scepticism about the
good that can be contributed by individual effort.
Another difficulty in some municipalities is the jangle
of competition among elected representatives, social and civic
agencies, and voluntary associations. Their competition for
the attention, the energy and the support of the people results
in confusion out of which arises a feeling of "what's the
use?"
A democratic society needs an orderly process for considering
its problems. All the elected and voluntary groups having
to do with education, health, town planning, recreation, social
service and general wellbeing need to develop consultative
machinery. Co—ordination will eliminate duplication and
frustration, and focus the interest and energy of all the
people on the most important things to be tackled and completed.
Any municipality is capable of providing what its people
want if the people reach agreement about their desires and
pursue their ideals with planned energy. The question challenging
everybody is: Are you sincerely interested in working to make
your neighbourhood the best place on earth in which to live
and bring up your children? If the answer is "yes", then your
ideal personality will find itself, and work out its hopes,
in joint action with other like—minded persons.
The respected citizen in every city or town does more than
merely live there. He achieves dignity through his contribution
to the community of which he is a part. Alfred Adler put it
this way: "People always make mistakes if they do not see
that their whole significance must consist in their contribution
to the lives of others."
To participate does not call for an heroic grappling with
uninteresting situations. Everyone should concern himself
with finding a phase of activity which commands his honest
interest. Everyone has some quality of mind or hand to make
his contribution significant.
Business and the community
This principle applies with full force to business companies.
Business executives may deplore the conflict of pressure groups
and the chaotic official structure in the municipality in
comparison with the well—organized efficiency of their
own offices and factories, but they cannot ignore community
affairs. A good business is a good citizen, with citizenship
privileges and responsibilities.
Looking at this relationship in another way, we realize
that firms operating industries want their people to be happy,
and therefore look upon a good community as part of their
assets. Among the qualities studied before establishing a
factory or branch are these: the extent of cultural activity,
the adequacy of the school system and the extent and type
of community facilities. One firm selected its new branch
site more than a thousand miles from other sites under consideration
because of a favourable community situation.
The good community offers opportunities to men and women
to demonstrate social qualities which are also good business
qualities. Young people who have shown leadership talent in
the affairs of their municipalities are preferred choices
for advancement in the managerial staffs of their companies.
Big industries are properly reluctant to assume a parent
role in community development. They encourage their workers
to participate in making the municipality into a good community.
The result may not be perfect, but it is more lovable than
the spotless efficiency of the benevolent father.
The welfare municipality may be noble in motive, but it
provides more and more things for men which once they provided
for themselves. This involves making decisions for men which
once they made for themselves, and undertaking responsibilities
which once were theirs, and thus diminishing the special qualities
that distinguish man from animals and vegetables, the special
qualities that make him man.
As was said at the Duke of Edinburgh's Study Conference
by a speaker from Africa's Gold Coast: "People are happier
and become better citizens if they are encouraged to think
and to put effort into doing things for themselves, for their
families and for their community group." There are all sorts
of things which it is better for a community to do for itself,
even if these things could be done more efficiently by outsiders.
Asking questions
A transition implies not merely a goal but a starting point.
If we are to move the community, as Archimedes threatened
to move the world with his lever, we need some ground to stand
on.
There are certain key words to guide the person seeking
a way to improve his community: find out the necessary
facts; survey the areas where improvement is needed;
make an inventory of the resources in people and materials;
explore means of rousing interest; inform the public
of every step; provide opportunities for everyone to
share in the planning and work.
After making a survey of the municipality, be sure to validate
your findings: is this proposed change really significant
to an appreciable number of citizens? It is easy to become
caught up in momentary enthusiasm for something trifling.
The man who finds his car caught in a bottleneck wants the
cork drawn, but does the end justify a community effort?
It is necessary in any society to learn not merely the facts
of life but how those facts are viewed by other people. One
should relate what is strategically desirable to what is technically
possible with the facilities at one's disposal and the support
one will be given.
Instead of floundering around in the underbrush, speculating
as to where the path is, let us climb a tree and see the whole
landscape. Instead of a mere track there may be a broad highway
within sight. The search for utopias and the fountain of eternal
youth have been fruitless, but it has been a boon to mankind
that there have been people eager to climb the heights looking
for them.
If someone were to ask the question: "What sort of community
are you seeking to build?" the answer might be something like
this: the people in our ideal community are alert to community
interests and are ready to seize opportunities for civic betterment;
groups and workers communicate readily, so that people are
not working at cross purposes; everyone takes pride in co—operative
achievement and joyfully accepts civic responsibility; the
organizations have aims that are clearly stated, ardently
pursued, and efficiently carried out.
Municipalities become good communities more by the positive
actions of good men and women than by the repression or extermination
of evil. Negative aims are not enough. We need the invigorating
stimulus of supporting some cause dynamically or pursuing
some purpose fervently.
Constant adjustment
Making the community a wholesome place to live in implies
more than occasional outbursts of energy.
All our institutions are undergoing change, rendered necessary
by the progressive civilization of mankind. Fixations in social
patterns have to be replaced by willingness to explore.
Adaptation is a continuous process in nature, of which we
are a part. We seek to hold fast to that which is good, while
adding innovating practices of promise. It is important to
see that the changes are not made with a view to merely temporary
advantages.
The good community cannot be created by a junto of busybodies,
but it does need the services of a lot of busy people. There
is no galaxy of experts competent to build a good community.
It is necessary to make proper use of expert knowledge while
preserving control by the people.
One function of the voluntary body is to ascertain and make
known the needs of the community and the desires of the people.
The municipal government will have statistics of population,
houses, miles of streets, acres of parks, and so forth, but
it cannot read from its files the human experiences and aspirations
on which planning a better community should be based.
People like to participate in community life. The need for
a swimming pool and the need of a man for participation in
community life are separate and distinct needs: they come
together when the process for acquiring a swimming pool permits
the citizen to take part in planning it. They do not blend
when people are forced to accept a solution worked out for
them under the sort of government called "consent—democracy"
wherein they are limited to saying "yes" or "no" to a prepared
plan.
There are many needs in a democratic society which cannot
be met by statutory authority. It was said in the Report of
the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts,
Letters and Sciences (the Massey Commission): "The importance
of voluntary societies in a democracy needs little emphasis
in this generation which knows that their suppression is the
first move of a dictatorship; but it is perhaps not fully
realized to what extent democracy depends upon their activities".
A progressive civic council will recognize citizen participation
as a high priority need. It will pool the experience and thinking
of those citizens and groups of citizens most competent to
consider various problems that crop up, and then incorporate
that thinking in its deliberation.
The best planning will flower when the diverse parts of
the community - council, school board, welfare agencies, labour
and business leaders, religious leaders, service clubs and
all other groups - discuss the needs of the municipality with
one another, establish priorities, and combine their resources
to do the work.
Social life revolves around these organizations and groups,
and all of them are community forces waiting to be channelled
into a tremendous force for community betterment. The small
streams will join together at the touch of a master force
to form a river of considerable size and power.
This good result of group participation and the union of
groups is not produced by establishing a hierarchy of leaders
or cliques but by a fusion of thought among people of earnest
goodwill. A writer about democracy said it this way: If I
give you a dollar and you give me a dollar, we shall each
have one dollar; but if I give you an idea and you give me
an idea, we shall each have two ideas.
Perhaps it will be necessary, in order to get things started,
to bring the groups together under a moderator who is not
a member of any of the groups. The individuality of groups
must be respected, while striving for effective co—operative
action.
A round—table conference will bring to light many ideas
for the good of the community. Any neighbourhood in Canada
can muster an enormous amount of brains in such a gathering.
When the ideas have been tabled, there are three things
remaining to do. The needs should be grouped by kinds or areas
so that the problems can be defined and discussed in an orderly
way. When the problems have been specified and understood,
the next step is to examine various plans for dealing with
them. The third step is to assign groups or persons to take
action.
Round—table discussion is significant only when it
deepens thought, broadens horizons and opens up vistas of
vital service. It is insignificant when it is used by individuals
for personal satisfaction, to press some private indulgence,
or to prop up a pet project with a cobweb of words.
The appearance of being a pressure group should be avoided.
Volunteers should work constructively with the authorities
as far as possible. We should not confuse the sort of co—operative
group we have been discussing with so—called leagues
which mushroom around election time as fronts for special
issues.
On being realistic
Many of us are inclined, when we take part in community
work, to lay aside the material measuring rod, which seems
vulgar in so exalted activity, but we must be realistic in
our aims and demands. We should not be like the philosophers
castigated by Francis Bacon in his book Advancement of
Learning. They make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths,
and their discourses are as the stars, which give little light
because they are so high.
Some people with good intentions fail to get desirable things
done because they think and talk in terms of vague generalizations;
they don't come to grips with real situations. Others hunt
far and wide for novel or subtle ways of doing things, instead
of facing the needs of the situation in a straightforward
way. Still others fail to keep their eye on the bail. They
have a programme on child welfare one month, on education
the next, on the menace of the atom bomb the third month.
Much is said, and probably there is a lot of good in it, but
the effect is superficial and smattering, with little happening
of a constructive nature.
Inform the people
Vital to the success of any movement for improving the community
is that the people be kept informed fully and intelligibly.
Community effort will prosper more by attraction than by promotion,
but in order to attract you must inform.
Here is a great and constructive work for the neighbourhood
newspaper. Every issue should display reports of things planned
and things done toward building a good community. Every editorial
page should propose new ideas, comment on progress and heap
coals upon the fires of enthusiasm.
The newspaper can be, in words engraved upon the building
of the Detroit News: "Reflector of every human interest...friend
of every righteous cause...encourager of every generous act...mirror
of the public mind...troubler of the public conscience...interpreter
of the public intent...nourisher of the community spirit."
To sum up
It is better to participate in the creation of good things
than to boast of their possession.
Since the beginning, men and women who grouped themselves
together in communities have been faced with many problems.
In seeking solutions, they have been handicapped by ignorance,
prejudice, and mental inertia. Despite all this, man has,
over a few thousand years, succeeded in improving his environment
and has had an enjoyable time doing it.
It is, indeed, a poor rejoinder to say about a suggestion
for community betterment "our fathers got along all right
without all this fuss". Because of the planning and work that
they did we are given today's opportunities. But we cannot
be merely onlookers at the pageant of life.
New conditions have brought new needs, and only the community
whose people are guided by intelligent awareness of its needs
and a determination to meet them can preserve the goodness
it has.
This is a job for people with faith that even the most threatening
situation can be handled successfully by co—ordinated
effort; that even the best they can imagine for their community
can be achieved.
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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