Know Your Neighbors

[Isla]

The one thing each and every one of us can do is know our neighbors.

If you are feeling nervous, get involved in your Neighborhood Watch program. Terrorists look for shelter in neighborhoods where people don't know eachother... but it is NOT too late!

Open your eyes. This is not about being racist, this is about knowing who your neighbors are. Be nosy!

My neighborhood has a very active Neighborhood Watch and that is why, when when something doesn't seem right, I notice it.

What will save us now is Unity. Don't be afraid to find out who your neighbors are and introduce yourself to them. If you notice something suspicious, report it. That is the very best thing any of us can do.

This has been a message of your national soccer mom alert.... ;-)

 

[creedog]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we our the first line of defense.

 

[Cosmo]

This sounds all to close to good old East Germany for me. Neighbours reporting "suspicious" behaviour to the secret police. glad I'm way over here.

 

[Isla]

Cosmo, here is it called

Neighborhood Watch

What we do is get to know who are neighbors are, we elect a captain, and we watch out for each other. If we see something suspicious, we report it. Period. We do this BECAUSE we are neighbors and we are watching out for each other.

We sit out front and chat every evening. We pay attention to whose kids are over at what house. This is how it SHOULD be. Everyone should sit outside at the end of the day and say "Hi" to your neighbors!

We have a VERY low crime rate because of this.

You can see it in a negative light if you want, but you have never been to a neighborhood barbeque in my area so you can't possibly know what a GOOD thing it is to know your neighbors and be willing to watch over our shared interests.

 

[Viper0329]

I think Neighborhood watch is a great idea. It doesn't cost a thing and it makes me feel better knowing my neighbors are lookin out for me.

 

[Michael]

Cosmo - It would require that the US have "secret police" that the neighbours report to for your comment to make sense.

I know all my neighbours and we look out for each other and our children. Little things like knowing who is on vacation really helps.

Michael

 

[kami]

What constitutes suspicious? I have some pretty weirdass neighbours but I'm not going to assume they're terrorists.

So if a single arab man moved into your neighbourhood would you immediately report him?

Neighborhood watch is a great thing to have, in fact my mom is the one who started it in our neighborhood...we get phone calls every time there is a break-in or something in the area, but i don't agree with this whole 'suspicious' thing.

 

[Isla]

Kami, it's all about communication.

No one could move into our neighborhood without everyone wanting to know who it was, so 'suspicious' for us would mean someone who moved into this neighborhood without already knowing we were a social bunch. That's why I chose my neighborhood... Oh, early one morning there was a parade of hot air balloons flying over our houses, and we all went out there in our jammies to watch. I don't know what was lovelier... the balloons or all the neighbors waving and laughing.

For the record, my neighborhood is racially mixed.... but it IS family oriented. A single man moving into one of these houses, no matter what his race, would be odd!!!!! An Arab family wouldn't be cause for alarm. We have several, as well as Chinese, Indian, African American, etc. There are a lot of college professors here, which might explain the diversity.

Anyway, the real trick in all this would be for people who live in apartments and stuff to get the courage up to find out who lives in the same building and to have a sense of who their neighbors are, instead of the anonymity apartments offer many.

I just hope people will take the time to find out who their neighbors are. It does not have to be a witch hunt.

 

[Cosmo]

Yep i'm perfectly aware of the concept of neighbourhood watch as it's pretty common in Sweden too. Although I don't participate in any myself I think I maintain a pretty normal relationship to my neighbours.

My fear was that this being "nosy" and "reporting suspicious behaviour" can really easy get out of hand, especially with what you are going through right now.
With the justified "paranoia" many are feeling right now chances are a lot of people who are not terrorists but simply deviating from what others may regards as the acceptable american behaviour will be reported to authorities by their neighboors. Of course you will say that this is wrong and you would never take part in it but I think it is a reasonable scenario. At the same time the government seems to be stepping up surveillance of their citizens. This together could have you right back to an atmosphere resembling the McCarthy era. I'm not saying it's bound to happen, what I'm saying is you should be very careful in supporting citizens to be informants on one another.