What If NDG Became a Neighbourhood That Made Room for Play?

 

Somewhere along the way to adulthood, many of us stop playing.

We walk through parks instead of playing in them. We watch children toss balls, chase one another and laugh uncontrollably—and perhaps forget that there was once a time when we did exactly the same thing.

But what if play isn't just for children?

What if it is one of the ingredients of a healthy community?

Imagine walking through NDG on a summer evening and finding a chessboard set up on a sidewalk table.

A few blocks away, grandparents are teaching children how to play bocce.

In the park, teenagers are shooting baskets beside adults who haven't touched a basketball in twenty years.

Someone has brought a guitar.

Another group is playing cards.

Children are drawing an enormous picture in sidewalk chalk.

Two strangers are tossing a Frisbee.

And somewhere, inevitably, people are laughing.

There is something important happening in all of those moments.

Barriers are disappearing.

We spend much of our lives divided into categories—young and old, newcomer and lifelong resident, wealthy and struggling, professional and retired.

But put a ball between two people and suddenly they are simply two people playing catch.

Sit them across a chessboard and they become opponents for twenty minutes—and perhaps friends afterward.

Music, games, sports and laughter give us reasons to interact when we might otherwise simply walk past one another.

That is why I'd love to see NDG become known as a neighbourhood that plays together.

It doesn't require elaborate facilities or expensive programming.

Leave a basket of sidewalk chalk in the courtyard.

Put a chessboard on a café table.

Bring a deck of cards to the park.

Set up a badminton net.

Roll a soccer ball toward a child.

Teach someone the game you loved growing up.

Invite the person sitting alone on the bench to join in.

Perhaps we could even create occasional NDG Play Days when parks and little public spaces throughout the neighbourhood fill with simple games—with one important rule:

Everyone is invited.

Children.

Teenagers.

Parents.

Seniors.

People who are terrific athletes.

People who haven't played anything in decades.

Because the purpose isn't to win.

The purpose is to connect.

So today's challenge is wonderfully uncomplicated:

Go outside and play something.

And if possible, invite somebody else to play with you.

You might discover that the shortest distance between two strangers isn't always a conversation.

Sometimes it's a chessboard.

Sometimes it's a soccer ball.

Sometimes it's simply laughter.

A vibrant community shouldn't only be a place where people live together.

It should also be a place where people have fun together.

Let's put a little more play into our parks, sidewalks, courtyards and lives.

And perhaps, while we're busy having fun, we'll discover that we've quietly made NDG a happier, friendlier and more connected place.

A NuVo World — creating a NuVo, better world one day, one person—and maybe one game—at a time.