Our little town, no doubt, inspires passion. Opinions are shared in what is usually a functional manner. Not without disagreement, but in many ways, our local concerns are infinitely more constructive than the bad example set by national politics. Of course, that’s not a hard race to win.

The Town of Tusten population is 1,515 over nearly 49 square miles, making it more than twice the size of the island of Manhattan. Tusten subset Narrowsburg has a population of 431 with a square mileage of 1.5. It could be argued that pandemics, part-time residents and visitors increase the population, but for the sake of unity, let’s set that aside.

With numbers this small, we’re accountable to each other. It’s one of the things I love about living here. It’s not hard to know a good number of neighbors. Familiarity builds empathy. Empathy builds bridges, not fences.

Given pandemic isolation, it’s easy for that sense of knowing and seeing each other to erode or become undermined. With very little effort, your ability to see beyond your own opinions, needs and concerns can collapse. What reasonable steps can be taken to avoid that happening?

The easiest place to turn is, surprisingly, to often maligned, spreader of fake news, more controversial than ever, social media. My site of choice is the Facebook page Narrowsburgians Unite! This group, currently 1,035 strong, is made up of largely supportive voices who are somehow tied to our little town.

Wondering if anyone else’s cable is out? 

Curious how you can help Dan Billard, aka Dancing Dan, celebrate his 90th birthday?

Hoping to find a cast picture from the 1958 Narrowsburg Theatre Group’s production of “The Man Who Came to Dinner”?

Narrowburgians Unite!

This moderated group has specific membership criteria and does a good job of leaving politics out of the equation whenever possible. Those looking for small business and service tips may want to check out Welcome to Narrowsburg, also on Facebook.

Please add a like or send a request to join either group.  After all, in this time of division we should support anything that unites us.