Unity...It's Our Duty

Tonight I went to my first homeowner's association meeting. It's hard to believe that this time last year, I was just starting the home-buying process! Any way, out of the 270ish homeowners that needed to be at the meeting in order for a quorum to be present, only 79 of us showed up. Now, granted it was a nasty evening. The rain was falling, the temperature was low, and it was the middle of the week, but it was very sad that more people didn't care to show up. What was even more sad was the attitude of those in the room. Our association board is trying to raise our dues by $100 (over a 100% increase) and some of us in the room were a bit unhappy about that. But the person running the board actually said that if we didn't agree to the raise, the board had agreed to quit and we can find a new board. And then he said that we wouldn't have much luck finding more people to step up to run the association since no one ran it until they took over.

Seriously? "It's our way or we quit?" What has happened in the United States of America? Last Friday, when my students were interviewing members of our armed forces--men who had literally risked their entire lives and given up some of their best years to our country--I was SO inspired by their service and sacrifice that I was nearly brought to tears. When asked what lessons young people today can learn from their service, all of them mentioned that we have a DUTY to serve our communities and our country. I wholeheartedly agree with this! We do have a DUTY to each other and to our Lord. We have a duty to watch over those around us and they have a duty to do the same for us. What happened to that sense of community and one purpose? What about democracy and the belief that a person's opinion, while not always yours, should be listened to and defended at all costs?

What was my act of kindness today? I listened at our meeting with an open mind and volunteered to do what I could to help my community. And I stood up at our meeting and spoke for those who are economically disadvantaged--those who cannot afford another $100 a year in an already difficult economic situation. It was my duty to watch out for those folks just like it is theirs to watch out for me.

Unity--Jesus died for it. Shouldn't we be working harder to accomplish it?