“Put neighborhoods’ future over politics
My wife and I have lived in Duanesburg for 46 years. For 22 years, I was chairman of the town’s Parks and Recreation Commission.
My political views as a registered Democrat never outwardly affected my relationships with neighbors or town officials, despite political differences.
There seemed to be an unwritten rule to separate personal relations from political or religious differences. This past year, I’ve had some experiences that make me wonder if that rule is breaking down.
I don’t know if such a breakdown is widespread, but I think in this time of extreme rancor in our national politics it is important to consider the value of neighborliness.
We all want to live in communities where we feel safe and have cordial relations with neighbors. I, also, value having good relations with neighbors with different ideas and beliefs.
I think these relationships can be an important way of avoiding villainizing “the other side.”
If we let political differences infect our communities, it will be very difficult to build back trust and a sense of shared community in the future. For this reason, I think this is an important time for us all to go out of our way to minimize political differences with neighbors and actively find ways to strengthen our neighborhood relations.
Most of us have very limited power over which president or governor we have, but we have a lot of influence over the kind of neighborhood we live in.
Peter Watrous
Duanesburg”
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Watrous, Peter. Schenectady Daily Gazette 9 November 2021.