Lianne Thompson

I went to the Sleepy Monk Coffee shop today. Waiting in our socially distanced line to place my order, I read a sticker from the city of Cannon Beach Public Works: “Take care of each other. Take care of the place.” Right concepts, in right priority, I think.

Do you call yourself a local? Do you live here full time, part time, or do you visit? Do you rent out your house or live in it yourself? If you fit any of these categories, it’s probably because you love the place, the people, or both. On the North Coast, the wild and beautiful upper left edge of the U.S., we love the place, but sometimes it’s more challenging to love the people.

We have lots and lots of people. We’re called upon to share our place with the world. There are freedoms in the U.S., and one of them is freedom to travel. So they come here, those lots and lots of people, to enjoy a sense of wild beauty and greater freedom from stresses and strains at home, coming to the ocean and the forest.

The beauty of the place calls for appreciation; it also calls for respect. Sneaker waves and rip tides can drown you, if you don’t respect their power. Forests can burn, turning you and your stuff into ashes. Decaying trees can fall on you and crush you like a bug. Cars bring freedom of movement, but mistakes or heedlessness can hurt or kill you.

As my dad used to say, “The laws of physics still apply.” The laws of human relationships still apply, too. We’re called to be good neighbors, on both a permanent and transient basis. How do we do that?

I understand that people want to escape into play when work or life is too hard or too much. But when they want to park in the lane of traffic on U.S. Highway 101 because there’s no legal or safe parking place? When they want to pitch a tent on a vacant lot in our neighborhood because there’s no motel or hotel or legal campsite left? When they party loud and long and large?

When they build campfires during the burn ban, because they don’t know or don’t care that we have a burn ban to protect lives and property during fire season? When they don’t know or care what “fire season” means at the wildland-urban interface?

How do we be good neighbors and encourage everyone else to be a good neighbor, too?

Big breath. Perhaps consider concepts like “scope of authority” and “chain of command.” “Scope of authority” defines who gets to control what actions of others. “Chain of command” means who’s accountable to whom for what results.

Those are 25 cent words to say who gets to be the boss of whom and for what.

Maybe you’re a regular visitor, a second home owner, or even a full-time local, so you think you know what you’re doing and don’t want to be bossed by somebody or anybody else. Maybe you think you know what the rules are, and you want others to behave according to your rules.

Conflicts can arise. We can look for who has the scope of authority and for the chain of command that will preserve our lives and property by limiting someone’s freedom to do what they want. But how do we be good neighbors in all of this?

Being good neighbors means negotiating boundaries and activities with compassion and forgiveness. Nobody’s perfect all the time, and nobody’s wrong all the time. No angels, and no demons. We’re just all humans, wanting to be seen and heard and loved.

Marjorie MacQueen, maven at Cannon Beach Library, pointed me at a book by John Burdett, “Bangkok Haunts.” In it, he said, “When you tear away the last veil, you know with certainty that love is the foundation of human consciousness, that there really is nothing else. It’s our constant betrayal of it that makes us crazy.”

If we can’t behave to honor the safety and well-being of the people and the place, we destroy the place and deny the essential positive human connection we all want and need. That’s when we start looking for laws and punishment, looking for whose scope of authority and chain of command can stop those who threaten us and the place we love. Alternatively, we can find reasons to love one another, no matter what.

We can be good neighbors. Let’s do that.

Lianne Thompson is Clatsop County Commissioner for District 5.