I actually saw community last night. It was living, breathing, talking, working, sharing, listening, growing, happening before my very eyes, with sounds of voices left and right, speaking in tones of concern, excitement, disappointment, fear and joy.

I’ve been filming local government for over two years now. Hundreds of meetings, all put online. But how often do I actually see community, in action, the way I imagine it to appear in books and movies? Well... Village of Monticello and Town of Tusten board meetings come to mind. But there was something different about the meeting that I filmed last night.

This was a special town board meeting to discuss the railway siding and crossing in the hamlet of Callicoon. A larger crowd than I’ve seen in months showed up at the meeting. There were lots of questions, lots of concerns and lots of confusion about who, why, when, and what was going to happen. And it was beautiful. It was stimulating and exciting to see and hear people who care about what happens in their town. I witnessed an hour and a half of conversation that was organic, like what might have happened in an authentic grange hall back in the day with pitchforks and torches. But people were just talking. There was even a moment when the whole room burst into several focus groups, drawing maps, huddling together here and there just to figure out what the heck we were all trying to talk about.

This is what we need. We need participation and collaboration on all sides. But we have to show up to meetings and spend time learning about what’s going on. We have to listen to each other and engage. And that’s what we’re doing. That’s why I’m so excited. And in time, with patience, we will come together and understand the many languages we’re all trying to speak. And we will build the little world in Sullivan County we all hope for and imagine. Let’s just keep showing up. I need something interesting to film every once in a while (wink, wink.)

Our needs are government’s needs and government’s needs are our needs. We are all people. And we are all paying taxes. And although I am only 26 and perhaps perceived as a naive, optimistic millennial, it is my voice and my attitude that will be living in this community for many more decades to come. If I go into any cloud of pessimism, I will come out unscathed, because I love my town, I love my community and I want to work with everyone, especially those who disagree with me, and who are different from me. I don’t want to preach to the choir. I want to listen and learn from those who perceive the world differently than myself.

So, regardless of the decisions that were made at the board meeting last night, I saw success. I saw people come together without anger. I saw people come together with passion. I saw dreams with voice and meaning sing and shine.

Callicoon isn’t only a handful of historic buildings, jauntily decorated alongside the pristine Delaware River, surrounded by rolling fields and forests. Callicoon is the people who live and work here. We also die here. And we’re born here. And everything we need is already here; we need only to ask our neighbor. We might not speak the same language—but then it wouldn’t be any fun.

[Isaac Green Diebboll is a resident of the Town of Delaware and founder of the North School Studio (northschoolstudio.com).]