In the United States, the good neighbour policy is alive and well. At least in working-class Worchester, Massachussetts. People had mowed Adele Gaboury’s lawn, collected her mail, had her water pipes fixed and generally tried to make life comfortable for this 77 year old lady. Then they discovered that she was only 73. You see she had died of natural causes four years before. One of her brothers confused her with another woman he located in a nursing home. Since Adele and her brother were never close, he assumed that she was still alive and left it at that. One of the good samaritans took a peek into the the house and was concerned about the amount of trash build up on the first floor. He called the police and they discovered her body. Life went on in this city of 160,000 but, as one person told a reporter, “People have their own lives. Neighbours don’t want to get involved with neighbors. Neighbourhoods aren’t like they were 20 years ago.”
Perhaps this story could be seen as a warning. Our communities are growing and the neighbourhoods are changing. Our attitudes towards each other are also in transition. We see it everywhere in our daily lives. I remember a time when no one locked their doors and you could visit anytime. I grew up with stories of sharing the fruits of the land. How a hunter who killed a caribou would go around the village beating a drum to let everyone know and they would come for their share. That at times a young hunter would visit elders with a goose and receive a shotgun shell in return. How many people saved the lives of others.
There was no money involved in any of these stories and no personal gain. Once a vital part of community life, they are now becoming a rariety. Today we are more concerned with ourselves and perhaps our extended family. The patterns of violence have become more and more the norm. Stealing from one another, once a terrible, almost unheard of crime, is beginning to be a problem.
I remember a time when everybody knew everyone else’s name. Today as our communities grow, this isn’t so. But people are concerned about tommorrow and the future. I see and hear that every time I return to Mistissini. When I hear them talk about things they don’t like, there is never really any anger in their voices. But rather the tone seems to be of disappointment in not being a Cree action.
“They’ll learn, they’ll learn…” is often what is said. They don’t refer to people when they say this, but seem to be talking to a collective community spirit.
Instinctively, on this level, we know we have much to learn. The changes and impacts on our lives have been phenomenal. I knew a time when there was no road, no electricity or telephone in Mistissini. As a people we are realizing in a very real way that the problems that the southern societies take for granted are just now impacting on us. I feel that this forces us to ask a fundamental question. What are our neighborhoods going to be like in 20 years? This question should be looked at today or will it take us four years to notice our dead?
