Take a close look...who is the Contest winner?!
When you run a contest, there's always someone who walks away with the "stuff" and others who are left with nothing. By definition there are always winners and losers. Winners, we are told, are very happy because they won a lot of stuff, losers are sad because they walked away with no stuff. The Great Canadian Neighbour Contest would be no exception to this basic tenet of how the world turns.
The defining characteristic of a great Canadian neighbour!
I've been thinking about one question for the past weeks while the Great Canadian Neighbour Contest has been in full swing, and here it is. What is it that makes these people such great neighbours, you know, the ones that we're hearing about in the Contest?! I've read the entries over several times and have discovered at least one defining characteristic.
Every one of the stories we're received describe neighbours who have chosen to live in the present. That's right, they've chosen to live in the present.
Take, for instance, Milly who entered her neighbour Al. "Al has been more to us than just a neighbour. He has been there countless times for us as a family. To many times to count...One time we were in Kenora visiting family when we lost the key to our vehicile. We called Al and asked him to send it out on the bus for us. Instead of doing this he actually drove the key out to Kenora for us..."
For those not familiar with Manitoba topography, a drive from Winnipeg to Kenora, ON would be about 3 hours. That makes it a 6-hour roundtrip. When I read this entry I burst out in amazement. Who would take 6 hours out of their day to drive to a neighbouring province to drop off a car key?!! Well, I imagine, someone who has chosen to live in the present, rather than in the past or the future. For Al, that phone call in that moment with those neighbours was the absolutely most important thing he could do with his life right now. He wasn't living out of past regrets or shooting for a more generous future when 'things settle down a bit'. No, for Al, living in the present with the people closest to him was what mattered most. So getting in the car and driving for 6 hours made absolute sense.
As I read these entries, over and over again, I see people who recognize that the only moment I actually have is the one I'm in right now. When they look up in that moment and see a neighbour in need, they get up and join them.
I'd like to be a great Canadian neighbour, I imagine that means I'll be thinking less about the past and the future, and living more in the present!
Great Canadian Neighbour Contest gets a great laugh!
Now here's a guy with a great sense of humor. Here's Tim Dolighan's take on the Great Canadian Neighbour Contest from http://www.dolighan.com/. The cartoon is running on the editorial pages of the Canstar news weeklies in Manitoba. Thanks Tim, we love it!
Also, see this week's Canstar feature story in The Times, about Elvin Krahn who entered his neighbour, Don Chadney - great neighbours who built a good fence! To enter your neighbour, visit the Contest page. Prize draw is on Feb 20!
Neighbours are doing it again!
I remember sitting late in the evening last spring, reading Great Canadian Neighbour Contest entries. I was overwhelmed by the simple descriptions of profound acts of care and compassion that populate our neighbourhoods. The remarkable nature of my experience was that I was reading stories that happen anonymously to most of us, quietly nestled between the dizzying frenzy of life as we know it. Somehow I was the fortunate recipient of all this life-giving news.
As I sit here tonight,
