#OurStreetParty : Bringing people together, I hope
SPOILER ALERT: This is an entirely positive message and most definitely not a moan for or against that thing with the two capitalised vowels.
Tomorrow is a new week.
Following a series of heart-breaking hate crimes and an EU Referendum of bitter campaigning, mistrust, misdirection and division, we need something positive to focus on, right?
Right!!*
*And we can’t rely on that being the Euro2016 — just incase all the home nations go out!
So. Whatever side of the referendum debate you were on, some basic truths for decent human beings are:
- It isn’t nice when people turn aggressively on other people
- It feels better to get on and have a bit of empathy with each other
Not everything has to be complicated.
And If you don’t believe in the points above, you can freely leave here because this won’t be for you.
Ok, those that remain bear with me, ‘cos this isn’t just hippy stuff.
As an antidote to both the milder squabbling and the danger of the rise of those that seek to divide us through xenophobia or any other means, I thought it would be good to show that Britain isn’t all bad.
A lot has been talked about “a country divided”; split down the middle (51%, 49%) by age, race, income or whatever else, depending on what you read. And sadly, there appears to be some truths within this rhetoric.
BUT, when we start to get over these these seismic shocks and understand new realities, we should remember that nothing was ever really solved by dwelling on the negatives. We need to find a way to stop the cracks, fissures and chasms widening or we could enter very dangerous territory quite quickly. But how? Well, this is just one idea…
On a local and national level, feeling a part of a strong, bonded, inclusive communities helps everyone feel better, together. I’m sure all of us would toast that?
Yeah great, but how do you create ‘togetherness’?
Well, showing that it is possible and already happening might be a good start — hope and collective spirit over fear and propaganda.
THE CHALLENGE
#OurStreetParty
Why don’t we get out to meet our neighbours and find something to celebrate? I urge all of you to consider organising something very small in the few weeks.
The idea actually occurred to me a few weeks ago, after I attended a street party on my own street in Beckenham. We saw the poster and as we have never lived on the street that had the party before, we were intrigued and keen to meet more people locally.
To cut a short story shorter, it was 1.5 hours of heart-warming, faith-in-human-nature-restoring awesomeness. The theme was (very loosely) based around the Queen’s 90th, but when I chatted to the main organiser, it was clear that she just wanted to get everybody together. How fucking brilliant is that and how many more Lou’s do we need in the UK??
Lots of people moan about not knowing their neighbours, but few take the trouble to get to know them and even fewer, get off their behinds to instigate something like Lou did.
It only occurred to me afterwards what a happy mixture of different backgrounds and ages are on my street. On a side note, myself and my wife Sam might be considered the biggest outsiders - having been their only a year — but the welcome has been lovely from day one.
(The biggest dispute appears to be whether a Maclaren or a Bugaboo is best. And after amicable talks, consensus is close to being reached that Bugaboo is overrated.)
So this is actually Lou’s idea. I just thought that it should’t need monarchs to get married or reach a grand age for us to display a bit of unity with beer and cake.
That’s modern Britain for me and I feel very proud to live on this street.
I realise just how lucky we are, by the way. I know there a millions up and down the country who have it much tougher and I can’t pretend to fully understand the struggles. However, if you have faith that you live near some good eggs and there might be more might be more out there, that is something we might be able to build on.
Might bomb, but worth a try. Do it. If you can. We’ll learn something by being outside of our comfort zones. Let’s not all be passive bystanders.
HOW IT WORKS
(Because rules help to organise the fun)
1. Stick a poster up and anyone that wants to come is welcome. 2 people and a dog is a result!
2. The theme can be anything* — Someone’s birthday, Euros, How nice ‘that cat’ is or simply “Hello, let’s have a biscuit”!
3. *Apart from the EU Referendum — LEAVE and REMAIN is for last week
4. Use hashtag #OurStreetParty and post some pics if you like. This bit is really important to give the idea of spreading as a joined up ‘movement’ type thing. I’ll make a nice little website that brings everything together if you make any content.
This — or at least the intent of it — feels all the more important and urgent now, if we don’t want Brexit to play out the way that the xenophobes would wish.
It should be obvious by now that I mean “street party” in the loosest sense. Just looking for excuses for people to get together, chat and get to know one another instead of retreating into our little bubbles in the midst of uncertainty.
OR We could just stay in and moan about what’s on the news, yeah?
Thanks for all the reading! Let’s see what happens and share how it goes.
You can follow @OurStreetParty1 on Twitter and @OurStreetParty on Instagram.
