Earlier today, I was reading a story about life in small-town USA, told from the perspective of a 12 year old living in the 1920s. One of the things that stood out was his recollection of summer evenings. He told of how his family would go out on the porch and visit with their neighbors, talking and enjoying the fresh air and taking in the sunset. As I read, I noticed that although the picture he was painting was appealing in many ways, it also stood in stark contrast to what I’ve often experienced.
The picture in the story was one of community—where people knew those around them well, and were regularly engaged in conversation with their neighbors—even on a daily basis. And this is totally different than what I’ve personally seen.
In most places, we don’t regularly sit on our porches and visit with our neighbors most evenings. First, many of us don’t have porches anymore. And even if we do, many of us may not even know our neighbors (and I’ve been guilty of this myself). Rather, in many ways we’ve become more isolated from those in the neighborhood. We have larger houses, fenced-in yards, and the ability to preoccupy ourselves at home (when we’re there) without ever feeling the need to leave. This could range from doing projects around the house to killing time watching television or surfing the web. Not that all these are bad, but I’m curious how our relationships with our neighbors have been affected due to lifestyle changes over the last century.
Of course, things weren’t perfect back then. But I do wonder what we’re missing due to the busyness and isolation that we’ve become so prone to today. It seems that developing real relationships with our neighbors is at least one thing that’s taken a hit.