The North Shore community of Glencoe is planning an unusual response to the terrorist attacks as a source of comfort to residents.
The mission is simple: walk outside and meet your neighbors.
“Talk to your neighbors, be friends,” said Village Board President Tony Ruzicka about the hourlong Glencoe Walks, set for 5 p.m. Sunday. “People get too busy. If I didn’t have a dog, I wouldn’t see too many people anymore.”
The idea slowly taking hold across the village of 8,500 originated with a resident who asked Ruzicka if he could remain anonymous. A week after the attacks, the resident called Ruzicka at his Northfield business office, insisting that he had to talk to him in person.
Ruzicka said he was on his way out but told the man he would be there for 15 minutes. The man drove to his office and delivered a passionate plea for people to connect through a community-wide stroll.
“He said what makes Glencoe special is it is such a diverse community, with people from different faiths,” Ruzicka said. “He is a walker and thought it would be great if the community just walked, got out and met each other and talked about whatever they felt like talking about.”
There’s no beginning or finish for Glencoe Walks, which is backed by the village’s Human Relations Forum. It requires no village funding, other than a few hastily faxed fliers to churches, schools and businesses.
Villagers say it is a fine idea and that maybe it will give residents an excuse to meet people they’ve never met.
“One part of patriotism is being a little kinder, a little more patient with people you see every day,” said Joan Walker, a 25-year Glencoe resident who owns a computer consulting company. “People are thinking about [the attacks]. People care deeply. It’s brought that out.”
A couple of Northbrook women drinking coffee in downtown Glencoe also favored the idea and wondered about starting a similar walk in their town.
“There are positive things coming out of this tragic event,” Gayle Edmunds, 38, said. “It sounds kind of trite, but everyone’s looking for something to do, a way to connect on a personal level besides watching CNN all night when you have this dead feeling inside.”
The tragedies in some ways seem far away from Glencoe, a community of trees, historic homes, specialty shops and Lake Michigan just two blocks from downtown. But residents, as elsewhere in America, felt the crushing losses and discovered a newfound vulnerability, some said.
“I think people feel like they’d like to do something to reassure each other,” Vicki Stauber, 36, said during a pedicure. “Some people feel anxious about what’s going on. I know I do. There’s comfort in everyday routines.”
Susan Bisgeier, 58, a lifelong resident, said: “To live here is truly a gift. It’s a precious little place. If people get out and walk in their community and chat with their friends, we should all stop and appreciate how lucky we are, how privileged we are.”
Some residents said they already talk regularly with neighbors, but others said they have felt a gulf, perhaps because of generation gaps or busy lives.
St. Louis University sociologist Charles Marske said people are connected in more indirect ways today, through technology, with fewer opportunities for face-to-face contact. That takes a toll on the richness and intensity of relationships developed, or “social capital,” he said.
“One of the things that’s coming out of this disaster is the theme, `We’re all in this together,'” Marske said. “You realize this is a time when your social capital is worth more than all the money in the world.”
