About a year ago my family moved into a new house. The
neighborhood we lived in previously was okay but it was
getting older, the homes were built in the 1950's... smaller
and quite frankly in a declining area of town were crime was
on the rise. While we knew that moving was a priority for our
growing family, we did hate to leave because we loved our
neighbors. To the right, to the left and across the street...
our neighbors were like family. We talked, we visited
together, we watched out for each other. No one drove fancy
cars, the yards were not decorated with lush landscaping and
curb appeal but the people on our street were always going out
of their way to slow things down and chat for a while.
The move came and went. We became settled in at our new
home, loving life. We were lucky to get a lot on a culda sac,
which was a major bonus since we have two young girls. It was
a dream come true.
Then something occurred to me...
We moved to this great new, nicer neighborhood but even
after almost a year... we barely knew any of our neighbors. A
little odd for a guy who runs a website focused on kindness
don't ya think? So I started watching, wondering and trying to
see were the sense of family and fellowship had gone.
I noticed that most of the neighbors seemed much busier.
Always on the go and many coming home much later from work
than they did in my old neighborhood. When they did get
home... they pulled straight into their garages, putting down
the garage door even before getting out of the car... never to
be seen again until the next day when they repeated the same
routine. If people were home and outside even on a weekend,
most stayed in their backyards behind their 6ft privacy
fences... only to be seen in passing when they jumped into
their cars again on Monday.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not implying that our neighbors
are not friendly people as I am sure many of them are. It's
just ironic to me that as we, as a community of people, strive
to live better with nicer homes, cars and stuff... we often
get so caught up in the process that we loose the purpose. We
want to live in a "great" community, feel safer and have nicer
things yet, if we're not careful, we can easily loose the
closeness of what being a neighbor and a better community is
really all about.
Mr. Roger's knew more than how to put on a funky sweater
and tie his shoes. He knew the significance of being a
neighbor, of being a part of a community and taking time to
slow down and make time to interact with those who are right
next-door.
This week, I hope you will join me in making a point of
getting to know your neighbors. Not just driving past and
waiving hello as you zoom on by. Not just nodding as you pull
into the garage and shut the door but really taking the time
to find out who lives on you block. Taking the time to get to
know who they are, what's going on in their lives and how you
can help each other experience life.
Your friend in kindness,
-Daniel
