It has been said that “It takes a bunch of individuals working together to create a sense of community.” My friend Tori told me this as I asked her to talk about Red Bluff and how she thought it affected me and my life. Tori has special knowledge in this area because she was one of the students I tutored in math in high school, and was also a member in the marching band with me. Through these channels, she has seen me participate in community service and has noticed things about me that relate to Red Bluff.
As I interviewed her, we drove through fields of trees and flowers and Tori pointed out one orchard to me, mentioning how plentiful the yellow flowers were. I said, “Yeah, look at all those mustard flowers in that prune orchard.” She was surprised that I knew the name of both the plant and the tree, and that I also knew what kinds of birds flew by, and whether that strange sound we heard was a raccoon or not. I learned most of these things from growing up on a farm. I learned the different types of trees from my dad, a farmer, and the flowers and birds from my mom, a nature lover. The raccoon was just a good guess. But if I had grown up anywhere else, it is not likely that I would have been on a farm, and I wouldn’t have such an interest in nature. I wouldn’t be able to point out things that a lay person wouldn’t see. Growing up in the city wouldn’t have offered opportunities every day to see new plants and birds without having to go out of my way to find them.
But just growing up on a farm isn’t enough to make me to want to tell Tori all the things I see. I want her to know what I know, because I like the knowledge to spread. The tutoring program that we had in school was something that let me be more social with people I didn’t know, and I was able to teach strangers. This experience complements knowledge, because what good is knowledge if you don’t share it? New discoveries aren’t important if only one person knows about them. Spreading knowledge through an avenue such as voluntary tutoring is an important community service that lets people learn from their peers. It creates a less intimidating environment than going to ask the teacher for individual help, and it is the kind of help I would want to seek if I were in that situation.
There were also opportunities for community service through our high school band. For instance, on Memorial Day, we could volunteer to go to the cemetery to put up poles and raise full size American flags all over the place. This creates a very regal and patriotic look throughout the grounds of the cemetery, and I’m sure the people visiting that day feel proud of their relatives who were veterans of our wars. I know I do, when I see my cousin’s grave. It makes us as volunteers more down to earth, as well, to do something that represents something so great. Tori says this is one of my qualities that I have gained from my experiences in Red Bluff.
The quote that I mentioned in my introduction can be applied to any location, and it doesn’t have to be a certain size to create a community. But the quote I gave is not the full citation. Tori’s full idea says, “It takes a bunch of individuals working together to create a sense of community, and Doug is one of those individuals.” This is only true in Red Bluff, and the opposite is true as well. I might have helped Red Bluff’s community, but Red Bluff has helped me become a part of its community too, and soon I hope to feel the same way about
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