Editorial: Appreciating and protecting an island lifestyle

I’m not much of a beer drinker, but during the hot, hot weather even we on Orcas have been experiencing, I deeply relished downing a cold one on my deck at the end of a hot, draining day this week.

It kind of crystallized some feelings about the tremendous luxury we have on Orcas Island to know and relate to most of our neighbors. Those feelings have been brought into focus with the national discussion about Professor Gates being arrested in his home in Boston by Police Sergeant Crowley, trained and experienced in racial considerations in the line of duty.

Two concerns color my “sheltered island” perspective of the event: the violation of our rights in our own homes, protected by the 3^rd and 4^th amendments to the U.S Constitution after American colonists had been forced to garrison British soldiers in their own homes; and the sad reality that a neighbor had not been able to recognize the residents who lived across the street and went to the police to seek help instead of to the neighbor to offer help.

I’ve always cherished the idea that in my home, nobody tells me what to do. That’s the comfort of the home I’ve worked hard and lovingly to secure and maintain. I think I would have gotten hot under the collar if someone questioned my right to be in my own home, even if that’s his job.

Here on Orcas, we’ve had police officers come to our door to ask questions about what’s going on in our neighborhood, and it’s been helpful all around. But I think that maybe that was “set up” by the lifestyle of serving on jury duty with a cop’s wife, knowing that the sheriff is the brother of an old friend of mine from the mainland, singing with the parent of another local cop.

What a privilege to know each other as “just folks” so that when we’re in need of help, we can trust the people who live with us as “neighbors” instead of “strangers.”

Don’t you just love it that an island doctor will be your waiter at an Orcas Center benefit? Isn’t it cool that our Chamber of Commerce Director coaches junior high basketball? That the YMCA Camp Director plays tuba in the community band?

Isn’t it soul-satisfying to know that if your car breaks down, probably the next person along will drive you for help? That a singer with a local group may have delivered your baby? That the guys you share a beer with are the ones that organize work parties to help when you’re stricken and unable to help yourself?

That’s life on Orcas Island, we say with a shrug. We take the trust and respect for each other for granted, and that’s a luxury we should look at.

For even in our island neighborhood, we’ve had drug enforcement raids humiliate our citizens, we’ve had cemeteries desecrated, we’ve had families erupt in violence against each other.

So along with our satisfied pats on the back, let’s renew our inclinations to help our neighbors, to give them a break when stress makes them ornery, to reach out to someone who may be going through a tough time that makes them unpleasant, to try and understand when someone rather gracelessly does their job, without calling them stupid.