Pop quiz: You're driving down Government Road, it's pouring rain and by the side on the muddy, gravel embankment you spot four figures ankle-deep in water huddled around a car. As you approach, you see one of the poor drenched sods waving and mouthing the words "Please help." Do you stop?
Not so fast.
There are least 10 of you who now know for sure that you would not stop. That's because you didn't stop when I, that pathetic person whose pathetic car had a pathetic flat tire on Thanksgiving Monday, was left to stand in the middle of that road. I had friends with me trying to help, but my tire iron had mysteriously disappeared, so I waved at you, hoping for a tire iron and thinking: "This is Squamish. People are friendly and helpful in Squamish."
Several of you looked me right in the eye as I mouthed: "Please help me" only to pass me by. Others just pretended not to see me while driving through puddles, splashing water all over my feet.
When one of my friends, impatient with my naïve shock and ensuing anger, told me to calm down, I snapped at her (sorry Jodi!). But I felt - and still feel - justifiably shocked and angry.
Another friend at the scene said: "What do you expect? We've become a bedroom community." That gave me pause.
If I had been in the city, I wouldn't have even attempted to ask for help from passing motorists. But I believed that Squamish prided itself on its sense of community. Residents make a point of differentiating themselves from Vancouver. People here talk with disdain about becoming Vancouver's bedroom community. They fear the disappearance of participation and support on a local level. They talk about the alienation of individuals from their neighborhoods, of a deep sense of being alone even when surrounded by thousands, of not belonging.
I'm sad to say I think my friend is right. Something is encroaching upon Squamish, my vehicular mishap simply made it glaringly apparent to me. Is it our proximity to the city that's causing this unhealthy disregard for neighbours? Is it this modern life where people are so cut off from one another that no stranger, nor their suffering, seems quite real? I don't know. But I, for one, will actively attempt to stave off that encroaching alienation.
I will continue to stop if I see someone in trouble. I will continue to acknowledge the strangers around me. Besides, I enjoy smiling and seeing a kind face smile back.
I should really thank those of you who drove by me for boosting my personal resolve to vigorously campaign for the strengthening of the community.
I'm just sad to discover how necessary it is, especially in Squamish.
