Ok, so this is what is on my mind today.  When and how did we lose our sense of neighborhood.  It happened in my lifetime because I remember having it.  I grew up in a great little neighborhood.  I grew up in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  I lived on a block where every family knew each other.  There were 5 homes on my side of the street on my block.  I can honestly say that I had an occasion to be in each one of those houses at least once.  There were probably 10 homes across the street from us and I was probably in 5 or 6 of those.  

It sounds a bit like a cliche but we lived in the type of community where everyone knew everyone, you could come across someone and they could tell you your life story, what church your family attended, where your parents worked, who your siblings were, the whole story.  

As kids, we played outside.  We went to playgrounds and played games.  We played “sandlot” sports.  We did not need a gym, or a coach or a ref.  We picked teams and the good players were picked first and the bad players last.  Sometimes the bad players picked the teams and guess what. They picked the good players first.  We rode our bikes all over town, we walked all over town.  We spoke to adults.  We had block parties and cookouts and invited the neighbors. 

When did we lose this.  When did we get to the point when we don’t know our neighbors.  When did we get to the point when the neighborhood kids did not greet you as “Mr._____” or “Mrs. _____”  What happened to the days of knowing your neighbor well enough to ask for a cup of sugar.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I am speaking in general terms because I happen to have been very luck in the two homes that I have owned.  I have had the fortune of having an great relationship with at least one neighboring family in each of the homes I’ve owned.

I realize that the new suburban developments make it more difficult to move about our communities.  Our developments a more spread out and are further away from the center of town so walking to the center of town does not happen.  

I don’t know whether this is a general state of the times or if it is unique to my set of experiences but in any event I would love some to the simpler times back.