Mary Thomas
The Building Bridges column was introduced, with the support of the HOA, in June of 2018. The first article provided background information for the column’s establishment and introduced the purpose and aspirations of the column.
As background for the column’s establishment, the first article noted that “planned communities are diversifying and the cultures of inclusive planned communities must harness and leverage diversity for cohesion and happiness in the community.” Thus, the column provided a platform for promoting tolerance and inclusion.
Additionally, the “column was created to support inclusiveness, expand our knowledge and appreciation of the range of life experiences in our community, and provide a venue for promoting ‘comity’ in PebbleCreek. Comity is defined as ‘courteous and considerate behavior toward others; it is the expression of mutual respect.’”
Columns were meant to “provide content on history of various cultural groups, significant events and observances of various groups, and discussions of how to promote inclusiveness in a thriving community.”
Generally, the columns of the past year and a half, have met the objectives originally established when Building Bridges was instituted. Content has included information on the history of various cultural groups, as well as the contributions of those groups to our society, information on observances of particular groups, and examples of how groups work together to promote tolerance. Most importantly, several stories of the lives of PebbleCreek residents, most notably the groundbreaking community work of Connie Montgomery, were included.
Lamentably, apart from Ms. Montgomery and the Comity Advisors, no other PebbleCreek residents submitted articles for the column. As a result, the column has fallen short of its objective to “expand our knowledge and appreciation of the range of life experiences in our community.”
In spite of our dismay regarding the dearth of columns telling stories about the lives of PebbleCreek homeowners, the Comity Advisors continue to look to others to contribute to this column. If you are interested in telling your story to enrich our understanding of the range of life experiences in our community, please contact R. Medina at [email protected].