Have you noticed how your neighborhood is starting to look more and more like Mr. Rogers’? Are there more people out in your neighborhood? I generally hear more noise around my house. With people staying home, they’re finding things to do. Children are writing on the street with colored chalk. Two kids made a chain of small circles that they numbered down the street for about a half a block. When they got to around number 1,400, they stopped. A house behind us and one next door have ping pong tables up. I never heard that in 20 years. One neighbor has two college kids stuck at home. I see them often outside reading or doing schoolwork online. The whole dynamic of the neighborhood has changed. I thought it would get quieter, but the opposite has happened: it’s gotten noisier and busier. Not sure whether that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but that’s the way it is. You can only stay inside for so long, especially with the weather getting warmer every day.

It sometimes feels like a big meet-and-greet going on outside my house — a perpetual party. I wonder if people are keeping their distance. I think it’s mostly because everybody is home, and people are meeting and chatting on their walks. I’ll tell you, the dogs have never had more time outside than they have now.

The potential for a permanent change in the environment is certainly there. We already know more people in our neighborhood than we knew before. I truly think Fred Rogers would be proud. All the simple things he promoted on his shows are happening every day. More acceptance, more communication, more people just generally being more friendly and more human. It’s certainly a time to take advantage of more relationships and deeper ones. And because relationships are where all the action of Grace Turned Outward takes place, this is an opportunity you and I don’t want to miss.

Could you be my … would you be my …

Won’t you be my neighbor?

Please enjoy the wonderful video created by my niece and her family. I think a lot of you missed it yesterday and I have to tell you, it’s too good to miss. So click here for: “If Only: A Family Quarantine Song,” and enjoy. And let me hear from you as to what you think!