"Don't wait for your ship to come in; swim out to it."

I have lived in my neighborhood for 20years; the neighborhood is a quiet remote place, backing onto the Capilano trails. The arrangement of different families, couples and elderly usually keep to ourselves, occasionally giving the hello or wave as we walk our dog or drive past, but there is no real neighborhood comradely.

Well this weekend that all changed by a kitten being stuck in tree! On Friday night, a cat had perhaps been spooked by something and had climbed up into a neighbors tree. Everyone was getting together to help get this kitten down. People had gone into their garages to get ladders, ropes, planks, cat food, milk, anything they could think of to help persuade him down. However, to no such avail. We had called the fire department to see if they could help, but they do not apparently do that anymore. We called numerous tree cutter companies but only one would come but not until the following morning. The poor cat spent the night up the tree, meowing like crazy, hungry, tired and keeping our neighbors up all night. Saturday morning comes along and the cat has climbed even further up the tree. By this time, our neighbor was getting worried and frankly annoyed by all the meowing. At one point, we had a representative from all the four houses in the cal-de-sac trying to get this cat down. We were all imitating a cats meow, again we brought some food, more meowing but nothing worked. Finally, a 15-year-old boy said that he could climb up the tree to try to grab the cat. The mother 'Ok’d' this… so this young hero got a backpack and started climbing up the ladder, up the branches toward the cat. Unfortunately again to no avail, the cat was frightened and would not be put into the bag. We were all petrified, praying that this boy would not fall. In the end my mother who was afraid for the boys safety, called the fire department and the SPCA, informing them that this young boy was risking his life and that someone should come out and save this cat.
Finally, the fire department came. The rescue took about 2.5hours for them to climb up and get the kitten. People from all around started coming out of their houses to see what the commotion was all about, there were introductions being made and conversations like “where do you live”, or “how long have you been living here”. I met people that I had never met before who literally live two or three houses up the street. This would never have happened if this poor cat had not been stuck up a tree. So yes, for this quiet neighborhood, this was quite a dramatic event but in the end, it was a positive experience.

What amazes me about this story is that it took something as small as a cat that was in trouble to bring people together. This happens in life all around us, take September 11th, Hurricane Katrina or more recently the Earthquake in China. These tragic events and incidents bring people together whether they are extreme or just simple ones.

What I have learned is that I am not going to wait around for a dramatic event of some kind to get to know others, I will go out and do it before it happens. Take the initiative, be bold and more doors will open for you in the future.

"Don't wait for your ship to come in; swim out to it."