Community Caring Conference

Say Hello

A summary of an article from Newsweek Magazine – Jan., 2007

The Importance of Being Neighborly – Thea Rhiannon, Bend, Or.

"Bill & I “struck up the kind of occasional friendship that people cultivate when happenstance makes them neighbors. We waved to each other in passing, shouted greetings, watched the evolving relationship between his dog and my cat.” Sometimes he saved me with jumper cables or hauled away the mountain of yard debris that moldered on my driveway for a month. Other neighbors received Bill's favors, too. We were all relieved when one day, after the paramedics arrived at Bill's house, they left empty-handed. Only later did we learn Bill had died. “My 8-year old daughter said it wasn't fair that we didn't get a chance to say good-bye. The lesson, I tried to explain, is to cherish all the chances we get to say hello."