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needed to have that support, but also to provide a
mentorship component where an emerging group is
mentored by one or two other existing neighbourhood
associations–to help them walk through those finer
lines,” Jerry states. He goes on to ask, “What’s the next
step? Where do you need to go for this information?
What bylaws are affecting your group?”
Once an association has been established, the group
can then work towards overcoming the most significant
barrier facing any community these days–isolation. In
today’s society, rich with access and availability, it’s easy
to isolate ourselves in our homes, to shut our doors,
draw our blinds, and disconnect from the world beyond
our front steps. Sometimes it seems that technology
has given us an endless array of freedoms, yet at the
same time has imprisoned us in our homes and shackled
us to our smartphones. Jerry says that we know the
impact of isolation can be harmful to ourselves on so
many levels–psychologically, physically, emotionally,
and spiritually–but we still do it, and we think we
are somehow impervious to its effects, yet it’s those
effects that reverberate throughout the community
and end up impacting the entire neighbourhood.
Jerry explains, “We are social beings. Whether we like
to admit it or not, we do care about people beyond
ourselves; however, we’ve come to a place in our
society where we’ve become very individualistic, and
I think sometimes we then maybe forget that other
people might exist and that our actions
impact them. What happens beyond
your front door impacts all of us. We
can isolate [ourselves] all we want in
our four walls, whether that be Hٙ