Making Progress

I have lived in Lawndale for thirty years. I have seen many things change. Some have been for the better and some for the worse. My neighborhood is a good one. I have friends here and my family lives here. My mother’s home is two blocks away. My cousins live down the street. 

Progress starts with hope. That’s something I learned a lot time ago. You can look at things and complain. Or you can ask, “What can we do to make things better?” 

My son came home from school in August with a plan. It was a plan his class made. They were going to turn a vacant lot into a garden. I said it would be a lot more work than he knew. 

He had a dream. He wanted to have lots of flowers in Lawndale. He knew there were some vacant lots. But he also saw the new buildings. He said, we are making progress. We should help. If we turn the vacant lot across from the school into a garden, it will show everyone how much we care. And then more people will plant flowers and trees, so the community will get to be a really beautiful place. 

I admired my son’s idea. He has always been a thoughtful child. I said we would help. 

His class started by clearing out the trash from the lot. They needed lots of trash bags for that because they didn’t just clear the lot. They cleaned trash from the street, too. People came by and saw the difference they made. I noticed after that people were not littering so much. It seems they got the idea that keeping things clean is not as hard as picking up all the trash if you litter a lot. 

Then they put bulbs in the ground. I think they planted about 500 bulbs. I helped, and I think I planted about 30 bulbs myself. This spring we’ll see them flower. I think that everyone in the community will be inspired. 

A long time ago, someone said, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I think it takes a child to inspire a community. I am proud of my son.