Hello People,
Please take the time to read about these amazing twin sisters who almost singlehandedly managed to make West Mt. Airy - the Philadelphia neighborhood where I live - one of the most integrated neighborhoods in the United States.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
When twin sisters Doris Polsky and Shirley Melvin launched a real estate company in 1965, they had a vision for West Mount Airy, the Northwest Philadelphia community where they lived.
They envisioned a neighborhood where whites and blacks, gays and straights, could live in harmony.
"What we wanted was an integrated community," Polsky said. "We had wonderful neighbors who were right with us."
Their dream has blossomed into a national model.
Sadly, this article was written because one of the twins recently passed, but it is a wonderful retelling of their life's work. And it shows how the actions of a single human being can make a world of difference.
What really strikes me is that these two women, using little more than common sense, compassion, a sense of justice, and a few good potluck dinners, were able to accomplish what arguably the rest of the United States with laws, protests, riots and violence could not and still can not. Why is that do you suppose?
I hope you are inspired by this story, enough to push forward with your own agenda for living in harmony. Me? I'm thinking this would make a very good book...what do you think?
Enjoy the weekend.
Peace!
(photo of twin sisters, Shirley Melvin and Doris Polsky with a dance teacher they hired )
5 comments:
Thanks for such an inspirational story! I am a little choked up by these sisters' labor of love!
Thanks again!
I love it.
I will read the book
a million times.
I wish I knew these
wonderful twins.
Ellen Polsky, Doris Polsky's daughter, is the director of Education at the agency I work for. We were all very fond of "Aunt Shirley" and the amazing work these who extraordinary women have done not only for Mt. Airy but as examples of what is possible for all of our communities.
Thanks for sharing this!
TereLiz,
You are very welcome.
SK,
I feel you.
Kathrin,
Wow, so little degrees of separation here in Philly.
Thank you for your sweet comments about my mom and Aunt Shirley! They were amazing women who taught me so much about being the best that we can be in all that we do!
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