We stopped knowing and caring about each other when....
we moved from the front porch/stoop to the back deck/patio. When kids played in the front yard, in the street sometimes and all the neighbors were on the front porch or stoop we knew each other, we could not ignore each other. We noticed when an ambulance pulled up next door and instead of CLOSING our door, we moved off the porch to help our neighbor.
When I was little, the lady down the road was always home, we knew to call Mrs. Bane or ride our bikes to her farm if anything happened. If she wasn't home there was Mrs. Stevens two farms down. When my sister came home from school got off the bus and somehow was locked out of the house in the rain, a neighbor driving by saw her sitting alone on the porch in the rain, took her in and waited until Mom got home from the doctor's office (she had been delayed). In towns and cities when a kid fell of their bike, there were 10 people jumping off their porches or out of their homes to help.
We have become immune to pain and suffering because we don't know each other. In our city, a disabled man on a scooter fell off at a busy intersection. People drove by, around him, nobody stopped until a florist saw him and ran out of her business to help him. He was seriously injured and is still in the hospital. NOBODY stopped to help!
We need to move back to the porch folks....
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