Longtime reader Betty Hawley recently passed along some good news with the suggestion, “Maybe you could pat us on our backs in your press.”
The article lists Kansas as seventh in the nation for being sociable do-gooders including the facts that we volunteer a lot, are generous givers in terms of time and money, and actively engage with our families and communities.
The Corporation for National & Community Service, which conducted the survey, is the organization that oversees Americorps, VISTA, and the Senior Corps — programs that help in times of emergency as well as regular life such as battling homelessness or drug addiction.
Among the highlights of the Kansas study is that 93 percent of us frequently share a meal together, 87 percent stop to visit with their neighbor and 67 percent of us engage in “informal volunteering” such as doing favors for others.
Sounds right out of Mayberry RFD, right?
Pretty corny.
Yes, that can be the response of those who can’t, for whatever reason, push themselves out the door to engage in life. A recent article in the New York Times, “Happiness is other people,” discusses the search for happiness and how it’s not, contrary to popular thought, an inside job. Catchy slogans such as “Go withinwards,” “Happiness should not depend on other people,” and “Happiness comes from within,” all tout that if you study what makes you happy you’ll get there.
In other words, become a teenager.
This isn’t to say we don’t all need time to reflect, but many take it overboard and check out completely, isolating themselves from friends and activities. The result is a higher incidence of depression and drug dependency.
TEN YEARS ago many of us were involved in what we now refer to as the “Year of the Hospital,” in efforts to drive support to build a new county hospital.
When the bond issue passed we discovered that was just the tip of the iceberg. From there many attended weekly meetings of the newly formed hospital board to decide where the hospital would be.
The discussions could get contentious, but never ugly. They went on forever.
In covering those meetings as a reporter, I never felt more involved with the community as I did then. I loved how passionate people were about their jobs, their neighborhoods, their town.
I met so many new people and learned their stories.
