“We all need, something to lean on”
A while back we went to see a movie on a Friday night in San Antonio. The theater we went to was located in a strip center full of restaurants and jewelry stores. After the movie I noticed something interesting as we were walking back to the car. One of the jewelry stores had picture painting activities for kids, wine for adults; a jewelry store trying to create community.
It really bugged me. Is the world we live in so starved for community that jewelry stores are using it as a marketing device? My family moved to “downtown” Boerne, so we could be in community intentionally. Boy did we ever get community. My neighbor warned me that at random times there would be something called a Lean that would occur in the neighborhood. When I asked what a Lean entailed, he explained that it always starts with one person leaning on a truck drinking a cold beer or iced tea, and someone walks up to share in the lean. It sounded so simple to me, I couldn’t resist, so I asked, “when can we have one”? My neighbor replied, “you can’t plan a lean, it just happens, and it just takes two”. What do you mean you can’t plan a lean, I always have to call all of my friends, message them on Facebook, send them an eVite. We have to make sure there are no conflicting schedules, football games, work, you know, no life going on, to get in the way of our gathering.
Two weeks later I looked outside and there were a couple of guys standing around a truck drinking beer. I really didn’t pay attention to what was going on, and just went about my business. About an hour later I heard some rowdy laughter outside, so I peeked out the window. Those three guys leanin’ around the truck turned into 20 people in the front yard, grilling burgers on a grill that someone brought with them.
I didn’t go. I didn’t know they were having a party, I wasn’t invited to that.
The next morning I saw my neighbor leanin’ on the truck, drinking a cup of coffee. He asked where I was last night. I explained that I was at home. He said, “why didn’t you come to the the lean?” He then explained, “I told you, a lean just happens, if we tried to plan one, it would never work.”
They happen all the time, and they are not about drinking beer, or cooking food, though that can be fun, they are about living life together. A Lean does not happen because someone wants us to buy something, or sell something. A Lean happens because we need it to. Our lives are meant to be lived in community.
Now I understand that I have the best neighbors in the world, and I mean that. I mean it when I say one of the biggest reasons we would not move out of Boerne is because of our neighbors. It is because we as a family realized we needed the Lean. We need community.
I truly believe this is something we will eventually get back to in our society. We will live in neighborhoods to actually have neighbors. We will eventually stop building fences, and instead start sharing driveways. We will love one another just like we are in the same family.
I also truly believe there is a shift in our current culture out of pure necessity to be dependent upon one another. To be responsible to one another. As the economy goes downhill and uphill and down again, we will realize as a society the relationships we have with one another matter more than what we have in our bank accounts. The meals, and beers we share together matter more when we are together than when we are apart. I believe in our innate need for community, you don't have to look for it at a jewelry store, it's right outside your door, and for those of you who live in the country, you're welcome to stop by anytime and lean.
