My first exposure to building community and being a good neighbor is probably shared by many of you: through Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. When I watched Mr. Rogers as a child, I genuinely believed he was talking directly to me through the TV. My love for him runs deep.
His show taught important lessons about life and emotions, as well as embracing others. He taught me how to be a good neighbor through kindness and compassion. He also encouraged viewers to embrace the qualities that make us all unique. These lessons have stuck with me all my life and are qualities I live by.
In a city like Chicago, it’s so important to appreciate our unique neighbors and communities, even through our differences.
My family and I learn through exploration. When the weather is nice, some of our favorite things to do are explore farmer’s markets and different parks. We go to parts of the city we’ve never stepped foot in to learn, explore and experience all of Chicago and get to know our neighbors.
The goal of our diversity committee, The 77, is to help better connect the association to all of Chicago’s 77 community areas. I encourage you to connect with your neighborhood committee representative, as well as the representatives from areas with which you’re less familiar. All our representatives have incredible insight into the neighborhoods they represent, from restaurants and shopping, to landmarks, unique architecture and more. They can be incredible resources for you!
I encourage you all to embrace activities and communities outside of your normal haunts. You never know what you might learn or who you might meet. Remember: “As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has — or ever will have — something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.” Thanks, Mr. Rogers.
MICHELLE MILLS CLEMENT, CAE
Chief Executive Officer
Chicago Association of REALTORS®