We like the Courage Wall that has been on interactive display throughout September at the Silver Line’s Wiehle-Reston East station next door to our Reston office. It’s an 80 foot-long chalkboard that lets passersby express their biggest dreams and ambitions by inviting them to complete the sentence “I wish I had the courage to … “. Designed by Alexandria-based leadership coach Nancy Belmont, and sponsored by Comstock Partners, the wall gets refreshed several times a day, turning a typically anonymous commute into an intimate conversation among hundreds of strangers.
Today, reading of the death of Reston’s visionary developer Robert E. Simon, Jr., my message for the Courage Wall is this: I wish I had the courage to take steps every day to build a great community around me. Simon’s 1960s dream of a network of interconnected villages grew beyond his wildest dreams, leading a movement towards live-work-play communities that continues to grow today.
Life is better when we are connected to those around us. So today we salute the vision of Robert Simon, and the inventiveness of Nancy Belmont and the residents of Reston who are helping that vision continue to evolve in the 21st Century.