Be. Here. Now.

I first wrote this thirteen years ago while I was auditioning (some suggested disparagingly) to become a one-person Norwich pep squad. That’s okay, I like the saddle shoes, but I am surprised at how much of ‘then’ is still true ‘now.’

The Minute Men are part of the history of our region and a national treasure. They were, I think, the original first responders even before we were a country. In the two dozen-plus decades since we declared our independence, we've had minute men and women of every kind for every challenge. Be it in response to attacks of war through economic calamity to catastrophic acts of nature, their response has always been immediate and unquestioning.

I'm thinking maybe we should put some time back on the clock and see if there might still be minute men and women among us. If we start at our local level and put aside our sometimes petty and partisan pouting and posturing, we can be a partner and example for the rest of the state.

We live in a target-rich environment for anyone who chooses to extend a helping hand. This time of year, on dark and wintry days (and nights) there isn't a Norwich neighborhood that doesn't have a household not in need of a shoveled walkway or could use a friendly face to visit with a shut-in senior citizen for some conversation and caring or perhaps be someone who could read a child an after-school story so a care-giver had fifteen minutes of 'me time' before starting supper. None of that costs us anything but its worth is incalculable, and the impact is immeasurable.

Speaking of children, the Board of Education has regular monthly meetings at Kelly STEAM Magnet Middle School. Here's your chance to monitor the progress of reorganizing and revitalizing the Norwich Public School system and hear firsthand about what challenges and triumphs our children and teachers have every day.

Most importantly, it's your opportunity to make your voice heard for informed decisions. Instead of just showing up for budget hearings to shout about funding requests after missing months of discussion and explanation.

And when it comes to talking, we spend so much time talking about downtown economic development it's hard to remember it's also where people should want to live and work. But that requires doing. Too many of us use the Chelsea District as a shortcut to get us from one place to another. Too late we discover we're still nowhere at all.

Conversely, sometimes we're so focused on just downtown that it's hard for someone who lives on Jail Hill or in Taftville (to name just two places) to believe anyone, anywhere cares about his street or her neighborhood. Too often we are ten villages in search of a city. We get tired of trying to carry everyone on our backs and forget we don't have to do it alone; that's why we've chosen to live in our city so we can help one another.

A lot of what needs to be done takes resources we don't have right now and figuring out how to acquire them will be part of that job. Many others cannot happen overnight but will take months, and in some cases, years, but we must first start. There are things we can do here and now that only take a moment if we make the time and have the desire to help.
-bill kenny