In a city where there are few old buildings, it is easy to forget about the word gentrification and what it means to a community. I once lived in a big city community which went through a radical three-year period of the old being transformed into the new. As I walked through an aging area of concrete buildings near my apartment, I can feel the increasing pressure for a gentrification process which will, at some point, replay itself out in this community.
As I considered the possibilities, a lingering Whisper reminded me of the need for transformation within, a restoration and recreation of my heart and mind. If I applied the lessons witnessed and experienced in New York’s Lower East Side, I find myself holding the following reminders.
Gentrification never happens on its own. It is not part of a natural evolution of a community. It takes willful intent, commitment, planning, and consensus building. Once started, it takes sweat and perseverance, along with others providing support, to give it life.
Gentrification brings unintended consequences, especially in personal safety and freedoms. I knew the gentrification process was going to be successful when I watched a twenty-something woman casually walk uptown on Essex Street at two in the morning while chatting on her mobile. I could still recall my own fear of walking the same street in the afternoon by myself a few years earlier. Everything had changed while the buildings remained the same. Almost invisibly, it was as if Divinity “made your city secure. He blessed your children among you.” (Psalm 147.13) In this case, it was the hard work of Divinity’s kids which brought the vision of care and kindness to life.
With buildings and neighborhoods, the cycle of restoration and recreation is long and overdue. The lesson of the Lower East Side reminds me it all starts with a vision of something better, a restoration and recreation of the best within. In my case, I see an opportunity to use today and tomorrow’s dawn as recurring opportunities to gentrify my heart and mind. Carpe diem!
