One Community Under A Groove

I had believed that I was a community activist by the time that I had spent talking and working with some of the kids in my neighborhood. Many of these kids called me Uncle CJ because mister was just too formal and we speak of each other like family. I am always sure to ask the kids if they are doing well in school. “Remember, Uncle CJ is good at math, so you don’t have an excuse for failing. You just need to call.”, is what I tell them. I volunteer as a coach for the Manchester East Cobras as well.
However I enrolled in a course long project at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, Warmth From the Millyard, which was the beginning of my evaluation of just how uninvolved in my community that I had been. Our focus was to bring warm clothes to the local establishments that had members who may currently be struggling with poverty. Giving warm clothes was not our only responsibility though. “Bring awareness of the poverty that has a strangle hold on our citizens” was something that I had wrote, once to be poetic. The class took no time at all to shake me from my ignorance.
I was made aware of a tent community that was removed from its location near exit 4, in Manchester. You can actually see it from the highway on I293 going towards Macy’s in Bedford. I found that it is often believed that the homeless choose to be homeless for one reason or another. There are almost 1100 kids in our public schools that are currently homeless. The Nashua Soup Kitchen and New Horizons often struggle to meet the needs of the citizens that come through their doors because of the lack of food they are experiencing. I also found that there are more than 2000 refugees that are currently living in Manchester. Most of the refugees come from desert countries meaning that there will be a struggle to last through these tough New England winters if no one lends a hand.
My evaluation of my role as a community activist is that I am guilty of ambivalence. I’ve spread my thoughts of positivity and goodwill to places within my reach. I have neither pressed myself to go out of my comfort zone nor have I asked the hard question, “What more can I do?” As the economy has become our Nations new form of “Shock and Awe”, there is a deeper impression found on my belongings and funds imprinted from my grip of insecurity. I am guilty of closing my doors and pulling the shades with the excuse that it is cold. Rather than face my neighbor who is in far more need; I tell my children of great heroes like Dr. King and Mother Teresa, in an effort to redeem myself.
But I move on. I will move forward with my self assessment with the understanding that it was of no use to assess myself if I choose to remain the same. I make no commitment to be the next recipient of the Nobel Peace Award. What I do make commitment to is to inspire as I live. Make an effort to be someone that my community believes I am committed to. And when we all make note that as one goes down we all suffer but as we rise as one we all succeed, I will know I have helped make my community better than when I came to it.
“One nation under a groove” George Clinton

CJ Perez