Forge For Society

I had an opportunity today which I almost let slip. My quiet, elderly neighbor across the street from me flagged me down as I backed into our garage, greeting us from his driveway.

I didn’t park in the garage fully because my intention was to bring in our trash cans. I greeted him and nearly just turned to park the car and head inside, but he kept standing there… waiting.

Our relationship has always felt distant, maybe even a bit tense. We never really spoke. I’ve helped him a few times, mostly during winter when the ice made his driveway impossible. I suspected for a while that his wife might’ve been calling code enforcement on us, but I never had proof.

That’s beside the point though.

He called me over to his driveway, leaning precariously on his walker as he pushed the key into his Infinity. I’d seen him trying to get it started before. There were several times I heard him outside with his wife absolutely redlining his engine while they jump-started the car; I’m assuming the thought process here was to charge the battery faster. So when he told me he wanted my help with his car, I wasn’t taken by surprise.

Let me be clear with you: I know almost nothing about cars. I know about some of the parts and what they do, and I have a decent troubleshooting brain, but that’s about it. I’m by no means a gear-head.

Evidently he’d had trouble getting folks to work on his 1998 Infinity; many mechanics won’t touch older cars because there isn’t an OBD (onboard diagnostic) port to plug into. He told me that they had changed the battery before and the car still seems to die randomly, to which I mentioned that it sounded like the alternator (his wife apparently is adamant that it’s a fuse).

After talking to him a bit and getting his wife’s phone number from him, I told him that while I’m no mechanic, I would at least try.

So I guess I’m learning about cars now…

I suppose I’m writing this to say that community support isn’t always coming to the rescue. Sometimes it’s just being there, even if you don’t have the answers or the means to fix the problem. I still fully intend on spending time this week after my workday is over to try to nail down his car troubles, but sometimes that’s enough. I know little about him other than his name and where he lives, but he is my neighbor. If I were a spiritual person, I’d pin his beckoning for help as a test considering I just started Forge For Society yesterday, but it’s almost certainly just a coincidence.

Still, my goal is to try to be the change I want to see.

Community support doesn’t just mean swooping in to save the day. It doesn’t need to be some grand gesture. It can be:

• Helping someone move furniture
• Offering a meal
• Clearing a driveway

Or in my case:

• Jumping head first into diagnosing car problems despite having zero experience with anything other than fixing computers.

I’d love for this project to be much more than it is right now, but I would settle for it simply being a log of my own efforts, as long as it has the potential to inspire others to effect change as well.

If this hits home with you, feel free to tag along with me. Maybe we can make this something truly impactful.