The Walcrest Pumping Station adjacent to Hillcrest High School at Walnut Hill Lane and Hillcrest Road has reached its final inspection after 7 years in the works.
Surely you noticed when the work began back in 2015 because traffic had to be funneled down to one or two lanes. But have you noticed now that it is done? Maybe its completion has been difficult to recognize due to the continued traffic congestion at that intersection as Walnut Hill Lane completes its revision.
Who hasn’t sought alternate routes or impatiently sat in the back-up … waiting. Perhaps in frustration with being inconvenienced. Or perhaps in wonder at the planning, the many hands laboring and the engineering necessary to benefit the community so together we may flourish.
The changes taking place in our neighborhood and city offer intersections for contemplation about ourselves and the greater good.
The pumping station and roadways were built to the best-possible standards at the time of their construction. The community has grown, demands have changed, and knowledge is evolving regarding standards that benefit the safety and support of an expanding community.
Alas, if the infrastructure served only one person, revision would not be necessary. The pumping station is not for meeting my needs alone — it is for all my neighbors. The roads are not for me alone to drive — they support the coming and going for all of us.
Together we wear them down. Together we must build them up for the sake of community.
We get to participate through funding, direct effort or with cooperative patience so that we all may flourish.
The action of our contemplation comes with our attitude. While waiting in a line of cars, will we grumble and be angry at being inconvenienced? Or can we sit with gratitude for people laboring to complete the work, for funds supporting the effort, for the eventual improved outcome that benefits our community?
Because what helps one, helps us all.
Contemplating the rebuilding of infrastructure can serve as a reminder that we live in community.
As community expands and knowledge of our diversity grows, our “infrastructure” must evolve in order to support everyone’s well-being.
Australian native Lilla Watson wisely states: “Your liberation is bound up with mine, let us work together.”
The intersection with action comes in remembering we are not as individualized as we think. Sure, we are individuals representing the amazing diversity of our God-given world.
And as individuals together, we create a community on which we all depend.
When we all have what we need, our community can thrive in safety and well-being. When one flourishes, we all flourish.
