We have visited many cities this past year, e.g. London, Vienna, Budapest, Venice, New York, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Auckland, Sydney, etc. and last weekend another was added to that long list - Portland, Oregon - a city unique among the many we have visited.

 Martha and I read the many articles about Portland's food scene, the restaurants, the creativity, etc. but it was not so much the food that impressed us (though much did, e.g. the shortbread from Grand Central Bakery was perhaps equal to those from Cindy's Bakery in Penzance, England) as it was the palpable sense of community that was evident.

Perhaps it is the size of Portland that lends itself to the feeling of community or perhaps it had something to do with Portland, a city at ease with itself, not striving to be more than it already was and content with the many gifts it has already been given.

In the coming crisis, community will be among the most important of the survival tools necessary to transit increasingly difficult times. Portland offers such a sense of community. If your area does not, then create it. Portland is a model that can be replicated elsewhere.

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com