“Come & Knock On Our Door”

Have you done an act of kindness lately?

Y’all remember the theme song from that show Three’s Company?!
“Come and knock on our door
We’ve been waiting for you
Where the kisses are hers and hers and his
Three’s company, too”

Well we’re not giving out any kisses in this post, but we are talking – metaphorically – about knocking on people’s doors. Really more about neighbors. But those neighbors that don’t necessarily live physically next door or 3 doors down from you. We’re talking about our neighbors in our community.

Y’all remember a previous post where I wrote about my involvement in a local organization called Envision Athens? And I shared that I joined Envision Athens last year because I wanted to take my advocacy beyond the courtroom.

“Last step of the activity: if you had a magic wand, would there be anything you would change about your hometown, and if so how would you do it? … But, when I closed my eyes for those 30 seconds and envisioned Athens as it is now, I wasn’t 100% satisfied. Joining Envision Athens was my first pass of me waving that magic wand to make Athens a better place.”

“Abracadabra! Hocus-Pocus! Let’s Reveal the Magic!”

Now it’s the season for Envision Athens’ Good Neighbor Campaign!

Envision Athens is launching a year-long campaign declaring 2021 as The Year of the Good Neighbor. The goal of the year-long campaign to inspire all Athenians to be Good Neighbors, united under one vision to better the community’s future through its four core values — unity, equity, prosperity, and compassion.

Envision athens

What is a “good neighbor” to you?

There isn’t any right or wrong answers or definitions. The concept is pretty subjective really. That’s why Envision Athens encourages everyone in the Athens community to participate and nominate people for the good neighbor award. But these are some of the values that Envision Athens looks for in good neighbor nominations:

UNITY
EQUITY
PROSPERITY
COMPASSION

How does the nominee embody unity, equity, prosperity, or compassion in the Athens community? Please share an example in which you have observed the nominee exhibiting their love for and commitment to the Athens community.

Last year I actually nominated my boss as a Good Neighbor. He doesn’t need an award to know that, but it felt good answering those questions and writing those positive things about him and his contribution to this community. A lot of the work we do as public defenders can go unnoticed by the general public or society as a whole, but if we cared about that, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs right. We don’t do what we do for accolades or recognition. We do what we do because it’s right. It’s just. And it’s necessary.

Back to those 4 core values of Envision Athens, here is one of the things I wrote about my boss John in my Good Neighbor nomination last year:

Prosperity: John contributes to the prosperity and wellbeing of our community by being a man of action. He leads by example. As I said above, he always wants us to be respectful and professional, and he portrays those qualities as well. He is also making sure that the clients are getting great representation and resolutions. John is always speaking up on our behalf and fighting for things that we deserve, such as more funding from the government. He collected data on a set of cases over a time period that showed how much time (in terms of prison and probation) and money this Office has saved our clients (i.e. the community) through our zealous advocacy, hard work, and passion. He has reached out to Mayor and Commission more than once giving them examples of our office success, and reasons for why we need more funding and increased salaries.

My 2020 Good Neighbor Campaign Nomination

This year, the winners of the Good Neighbor nominations will be announced at Athens PorchFest on Sunday October 10th! I had the opportunity this year as well as last year to assist in selecting the good neighbor award winners and Envisioneer of the Year award winner. This is such an exciting process for me because I get to read about all of the other amazing human beings in this community sacrificing their time, money, skills, and efforts for the community. For people who are probably viewed as “less than.” For their neighbor.

America is usually known as the land of the free or the country of opportunities. But we all know that is not the case for everyone. There is racism here. Classism. Sexism. Homophobia. Hate crimes. Hatred against the homeless. Injustice in the legal system. I can go on and on. America is not perfect by any means, but knowing that I live in a community where we have people sticking their necks out and lending a helping hand to those who could have easily been written off gives me a sense of hope. Reminds me that I’m living in and am a part of a community that cares for its neighbor. A community that cares for someone like me.

What is a “good neighbor” to you?

“Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” — Mark 12:29-31, NKJV.

Moni Jay, Off the Record