A powerful, unstoppable side effect

Right now I can’t think of anyone, except Lily Lu, who is deliriously happy with all of this snow. Right now her sheer enjoyment of the icy cold and snowy white is the only thing keeping me from running amok at still having to wear boots, mittens and hats and dig out with shovel and snow blower. You may be asking where I am going with this. Well, it was tramping on clean sidewalks that inspired today’s musings.

I am blessed to live between great neighbors. More often than not, I find my sidewalk and sometimes even my driveway already shoveled or snow blown by Frank Ganat or by John Arnold. Sometimes I am able to return the favor and get out there before they do and use my snow blower to clean their walks and the end of their driveways. In really bad weather the Arnolds park a car or two in my driveway. And I thank my lucky stars that I have the upstairs neighbor that I do. On a regular basis we do little kindnesses for each other without thinking. Really, we are all looking out for each other.

Acts of generosity as I describe here come from the sense of community we feel. We think we live in a great neighborhood because there is that sense of community and camaraderie.

It got me to thinking of the neighborliness I am lucky to experience from different quarters of the Chamber time and time again. It’s because this Chamber fosters community building, just like my block does. For Chamber members who invest time in building community, that kind of generosity has a habit of multiplying, too.

It’s the kind of community that Arlington Entrepreneurs and Famboogle.com are Chamber Connecting to create between each other and with Arlington as a whole. It’s the sense of neighborhood that East Arlington business owners are creating in Capitol Square.

That Arlington Center businesses on Medford Street, Mass. Ave. and Broadway have created with Broadway Plaza.

It’s what is happening at the Chamber's Coffee’s on Us gatherings and our networking events.

It’s creating a sense of belonging, which, in turn, manifests a powerful, unstoppable side effect. A positive and palpable energy that radiates outward inviting others to come in, to belong, to participate.

I like to think that Chamber members are like my neighbors on Franklin. We are all building community one connection at a time. Ain’t it grand?!