Driving through the countryside not far from home I pass this roadside sign. Community organizations in our state "adopt" portions of highways. Once a year they come out and pick up the litter along their section of road. The folks in this neighborhood obviously decided they would share the "ownership" of their road equally.
It seems that smaller communities have no difficulty feeling ownership of the things they share in common. It might be roads but it also is often neighborhoods, schools, and local government. Likewise, there is often a size at which a community stops feeling this sense of ownership as individuals begin to feel more alone and anonymous. They see a problem and think "someone else will take care of it." If we foster community size which encourages this natural sense of common responsibility we might be able to solve more of the problems which we often expect the government or churches and non-governmental organizations to take on.
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