Maine is about community

Katherine Heidinger’s Feb. 1 column in the Bangor Daily News touched a chord and my heart. She stated that change itself cannot undo community.

I grew up in Belgrade Lakes and have visited many other places throughout the state. I have learned that Maine is about community. Communities are small and close-knit. Not only do we know the names of people who live in the houses, we also know the kids’ and pets’ names.

Growing up in the small community of Belgrade Lakes that is located in central Maine, I know what it is like for a small community to define a big part of who I am. It was a closeness that you cannot get in a city where you may not know who lives down the street even after three or five years.

Heidinger stated that, “one of the values we cherish in our part of Maine is the sense of community.” “The feeling,” wrote Heidinger, “of the familiar and familial, as in being kin without being related.”

I agree with her opinion that we do not need the fictional neighborhood of Mister Rogers because we tend to our own neighborhoods. We are imperfect, but we have learned to live with those imperfections.

I have seen the trend of people who once lived in Maine, wanting to move back with their families. It is not because of high paying jobs; unfortunately, those are still far and few between in our part of Maine. People move to Maine because of the close knit communities, family, friendly neighborhoods and quality education for the children.

The grass in the meadow elsewhere is not always greener.

Maine’s small communities do follow the saying that it does take a village to raise a child. As Mainers, we take pride in our close-knit communities. Some of our communities may have grown over these years, but the character of the communities has not changed.

I grew up on a horse farm just outside of Belgrade Lakes that doubled its size in the summer with summer visitors. At the age of 17, I moved to the “city of Augusta.” I went from attending a high school with 70 or so students in my class to one of almost 300 students. I was one of 283 students who graduated in 1985 from Cony. I went from a town and school where most neighbors, bus drivers, teachers and students who knew my name to being a number and indistinct.

I still have relatives who live and work where I grew up. I visit each summer on the Fourth of July. Belgrade Lakes region has grown greatly with new people moving into the area. Old neighbors remember who I am. I have wonderful memories of my childhood.

Our communities help define our characters. No anonymity. We are contented to know who our neighbors are. I like the familiarity not the formality. Now as a parent, I love living in Hampden. I love it when my son’s principal calls my son and me by name. It is a connection that I knew as a child and teen-ager.

If you live in a small community, word of a neighbor who is hurt, sick or in need, people rally to help. People share our fortunes and misfortunes like kin. As a community, we are there for each other through it all. No formality or anonymity. Maine’s communities are built on values of support, unity, character, unselfishness, hard work and service to others.

Heidinger wrote that the sense of community nudges people into action and mobilizes armies of volunteers when any need arises.

Our towns are more than the post office, gas and quick mart, library and school. We are more than a few streets lined with houses, fishing villages, small businesses or factories. Our towns are made up of people who care about others around them. They could be your neighbor who volunteers as a firefighter, or another who brings meals to the homebound elderly. People who serve on the school’s parent teacher organization, raise money for the town library to buy books, or lead the local troop or pack of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.

We know each other well. When we leave for even a short time, saying goodbye is hard. We are not just a number. We are not anonymous. No pretentiousness here. It is community. It is Maine. People who care about you and where you are bound. I would not trade it for the world.

Paula R. Baines of Hampden owns Advantaged Image Communications.