Community as Playground

By Sharon Ellery
Nonprofit Studies Program, Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

My community as playground would be a happy and fun-filled place. My community would include lots of free bicycles with stands outside every house so that whenever you wanted to ride down the street you could. The streets would be painted in bright, vivid blues, and pinks and purples with a little bit of silver. There would be bicycle paths with flowers and grass to run and play in. All children would be safe to play in their backyards and sandlots would be left so that the children could make up their own baseball games with no adults to run it. There would be trees to climb and swamps to build wooden bridges to a make believe world where the frogs come out and play with the children. The schools would be filled with musical instruments and musicians. The musicians would assemble each day at the door to the school and lead the school with a tune composed by the students as they danced down the hallways. There would be gigantic drawing boards with large markers where you could draw, or write when you get tired of bicycle riding. There would be cushions and chairs to sit around and read books in comfort. Every day teachers would read stories to the children.

In fair weather every Saturday there would be bicycle races and the winner would get a box of cookies to share with his or her friends. On Halloween Night no cars would be allowed on the streets and everyone would walk around the town as they went trick or treating. In the winter there would be sled and ice skating races for everyone. All boys would live on one side of town and the girls would live on the other since seven year olds don’t like boys if they are girls or girls if they are boys.

This idea of community matters because I believe that it would create a more creative and more generous community. Since this community invites children to explore their imaginations, in this community creative talents would be encouraged. Many creative careers would be established and built upon in this community. Because of this new way of looking at the world, this would allow this community to fearlessly explore new horizons that would develop an economic base that continually invites more creative people to live in my community. My idea would foster neighborhood vitality, building stronger and healthier neighborhoods for peaceful living. Greater participation in cultural events would draw more people who live in my community because of the cultural life build around the creative people. This idea would lead to a more inclusive community that would care and nurture the next generation building individual strengths and talents for the greater good of the community. Greater appreciation and understanding of the different cultural and diverse groups in the community would promote harmony and peaceful relations for community residents and visitors.

The implications of these ideas would be that creativity produces more creativity and brings about more stable growth and economic development. The implications would allow more creative people to join this expanding economic engine instead of running from stagnation. If we adopted this idea of community, people would not fear change and would embrace it with excitement and energy. We could leave the linear thinking behind. Democracy would flourish and government would be able to perform better and more efficiently.