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CPR: Consideration of Others, Personal Responsibility & Respect

Jul 13, 2021 | Article, Association Management, Blog, Chapter Happenings Sponsor, Common Interest Communities, Community Associations, Volunteers & Volunteering

If you’re my age or beyond, you will recognize “Imagine, if you will…” from The Twilight Zone. If not, feel free to roll your eyes but bear with me. My modified version is “Consider, if you will…” what we have all endured over the past year and a half. Restated for emphasis, what we have ALL endured. A pandemic. Schools closed. Businesses closed. Unemployment. Divisive election. Cultural shifts. Riots. Uncertainty. Unprecedented weather. Isolation. Relationship stresses. Financial pressure. Rising housing costs. No vacations. Inability to attend weddings, funerals, religious services, and social gatherings. Loneliness.

The intent is not to bring you down, but rather to take this opportunity to set the stage of where we are today. Early last year, I recall offering to our homeowners, Board members, vendors, and colleagues “we’re in this together; and together we will be okay.”

Along the way, humanity seems to have lost the “together” part. The isolation and separation seem to have caused us to become less aware of the fact we are each part of the fabric of our community. If we are to exit the misery of this past year and a half, we must revive “together” with some CPR – Consideration of others, Personal responsibility, and Respect.

The recent past has affected all of humanity in a profound way. No one has been untouched. Yes, we are each and all feeling stressed and anxious beyond anything we have ever experienced before. So is the person on the other end of that email you’re writing. Or that text you’re about to send. Or that voice mail message you’re about to leave. It’s NOT okay to stomp on others when we are feeling stressed out beyond anything we have experienced before. The anonymity of email and voice mail seems to be encouraging us to lash out viscerally, completely and utterly disproportionate to the issue at hand, in ways we would never imagine doing in person.

It’s natural for us to want to blame someone or something for what life has been like during this time. At the end of the day, we all need to accept and embrace personal responsibility. No one made us buy our homes. No one made us accept the deed to real estate, subject to the governing documents as a condition. No one made us not mow our lawns or park in the visitor parking. No one made us enjoy lower assessments in the past so now we must pay a special assessment for the new roof. We made those choices freely and must accept personal responsibility for those choices.

We need to be respectful of our neighbors, our volunteer Board members, our Community Association Managers, and the vendors who take care of our neighborhoods. We need to respect ourselves and take pride in our homes. We must be respectful in the tone and word choices in our communication and interactions, especially so when not face to face. We must try to keep in mind we are a part of the fabric of our communities, not the center of it. We need to find another way and another place, other than each other, to vent our stress and anxiety.