3NCD: What Should New Canaan Be Thankful For?

About this series: Each month, three New Canaan Democrats choose a topic and each write an essay.  This month the topic is: “What should New Canaan be thankful for?“

Essay 1

In the spirit of the season we decided that, this month, we would forgo our traditional advocacy approach and instead talk about what makes this town such a treasure – the town’s gifts to us – if you will.

It’s a long list. We have wonderful parks like Mead, Kiwanis, Waveny and Irwin; a great cultural institution in our Library; scores of community activity and educational programs in The Nature Center, Lapham Center, and The Historical Society; important town-wide traditions such as The Family Fourth, caroling on God’s Acre, the Memorial Day parade and service, the May Fair at St. Mark’s, the ice cream social at the Historical Society; amateur theater at the Power House, artists in residence at Silvermine; and myriad town resources such as Vine Cottage, Waveny Care Center, and the New Canaan Inn. We have more youth sports teams, scouting programs, and Indian Princesses than you can shake a stick, bat, merit badge, soccer ball, or teepee at. Our schools (and students) continue to make us proud and our police, fire, EMT’s, and CERT first responders continue to earn our admiration and thanks. We have our own Post Office, movie house, train station and broad ranging culinary opportunities and a downtown that, after a snow fall, looks like something straight from Currier and Ives. Town employees are, overwhelmingly, competent and professional with a sincere desire to serve our citizens while our merchants and store owners are welcoming and obviously committed to our town’s well being. Town Government is certainly vibrant as it wrestles with all the competing (and sometimes conflicting) demands and challenges we citizens place before it, but all-in-all, it does so with a sense of openness and dedication that does each of us proud.

Looking at this list I am sure that you could add literally scores of other important and noteworthy organizations, associations, clubs, facilities, and groups that each in their own way contribute to the special and remarkable place we call home. But, in my view, by far the most important gift that New Canaan gives to us is actually something that New Canaan itself has received from past and current generations of residents – the civic spirit of volunteerism. The idea that individual citizens working together can “get something done”, and contribute to the town in ways larger than themselves.

That list I gave you of all the things that help make our town so special exists only because of the thousands and thousands of hours of hard work that the town’s hundreds and hundreds of volunteers contribute – from serving on boards, commissions, and committees all the way to working on the annual “Clean Your Mile” day, from going to the Board of Education meetings after you get off Metro North to cooking hot dogs at the May Fair, from taking CERT training to delivering Meals-on-Wheels and on and on.

In the end perhaps that IS the best gift that New Canaan can give us – the chance to make a difference and be part of our community.

Happy Holidays

Essay 2

For me, this is the season of Giving. Christians celebrate the birth of Christ with reflection, joy and the sharing of that joy in prayer and song. Jews celebrate a miracle at the end of a historic battle with games, songs and sharing a symbolic meal. Over time, and it doesn’t really matter when, a tradition of gift giving has developed around these holidays. Since we live in a capitalist society where we are taught to look for market opportunities, is it any wonder that businesses have exploited our desire to share with opportunities to buy, buy, and buy. So, perhaps the first thing we should be grateful for (those of us who still have some purchasing power), as we lament the loss of meaning in the season and lambast the rampant commercialism, is that we are able to put food on our tables, purchase a tree or candles for a Menorah, provide tokens for our families and support the retail economy.

Then, and quickly, we need to step back, to open our eyes and look beyond ourselves to those in our midst who need us and to reach out to those around us whose lives have become clouded by circumstances or whose means despite all their hard work is still not enough to provide them with the basic necessities or perhaps leaves them in a perpetual state of emergency. And, most importantly, we need to remind others, to do the same. Let us become proselytizers of the adage, “Be kind for everyone you meet is carrying a heavy burden.”

At this time of year in particular, we are being beseeched to extend a gift whether monetarily, materially or personally by a variety of well deserving charitable organizations. Perhaps you are overwhelmed by so many demands. Over fifty years ago, Eleanor Roosevelt reminded us in her essay on “Learning to be Useful,” that there are others whose needs may be less dramatic but no less real who are within our reach – people whom we see every day but may not know intimately to whom a word of encouragement or understanding or helping hand is a beacon of hope. This is not a random act of kindness – it is instead a more deliberate and thought out extension of generosity derived from empathy. Remember the stranger in your midst.

As Democrats, we need to remind those who have forgotten, that despite our grievances with our government it still serves a legitimate purpose in safeguarding the public and providing us with needed services, which is why we pay taxes. Our free market economy has enabled many in our community to accumulate wealth beyond their wildest dreams and it is only fair that those who have benefited the most should contribute more in taxes than those whose incomes are far less. Tax reform is needed but what is drastically needed is a sense of shared sacrifice. Let us remind each other that we are stronger when we pull together.

Isn’t it time we engage in meaningful, constructive and civil discussions with one another about our future as a family, community and nation? Let us remember to be grateful for the First Amendment and to remind others to be vigilant in its protection for without it we wouldn’t be able to share our differences of opinion with our political leaders, between ourselves and within our political parties. Let us give each other this season, a gift of active listening that endures throughout the coming year and years ahead.

On Christmas Day, I will be at Waveny Care Center serving breakfast and dinner. Throughout the season, I will be engaging my family and friends in discussions on how they lead useful purposeful lives. I will be working with my friends on the DTC to ensure our town remains open and responsive to everyone in the community. And I will continue to advocate for tolerance, compromise, shared sacrifice and respect within our government and among its leaders so we can move forward as a country.

What are you giving your family, neighbor, community, country this year?

Wishing you a joyful season of giving,
A Democrat in New Canaan

Essay 3

Residents of New Canaan should be thankful for the Village. We are not a City, we are not a Metropolis – we are a Village. A Village is a family. Like any family we fight, disagree and mind one another’s business too much. Like a family we have a few “Uncle Ned” who are nettlesome, disagreeable and sometimes glass-half-empty kind of kin. But most of the family are wholesome, generous and sound of heart. We have a Village where we can walk through town and wave to folks we know, greet our Selectman by first name and celebrate one another’s good fortune.

Much of today’s world, courtesy of Twitter, Facebook and email, is void of personal interaction, plain-spoken promises and personal responsibility. Alternatively, the Village is full of face-to-face communications, forced interaction and (sometimes) respectful disagreements. The Village invites us to good behavior (i.e.: getting involved) and avoiding bad behavior (I admit reading the police blotter in the New Canaan Advertiser).

We should celebrate the goodness of our Village where children feel safe from school-yard bullies & reckless drivers and commuters walk home following late night arrivals at the train station.

We should be thankful to our town merchants including Rick Franco holding court at the Wine Merchant, Wendy serving our lunch at Cherry Street East and Matt –our town’s finest mechanic- at the New Canaan Gulf Station.

Lastly, we should be thankful to our committed group of volunteers across dozens of functions including our Library, Park and Recreation, Historical Society and the Ambulance Corp.

I lived in the City for years. I never met my neighbors – never felt like a stakeholder in the community. To this day, while I love commuting to the City for all of the energy, passion and competitiveness, I am thankful to come back to our Village for the community and friendship.

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