How well do we know our neighbors...

I grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. Oh, they knew our business whe did not always want them to know it but we also knew that most of the folks in our town would give the shirts off their backs to help us out if they thought we needed. And, of course we were always too proud to let anyone know we needed anything.

My foster mom did not drink but when the bar next door caught fire, she was one of the firt ones out there helping serve doughnuts and coffee to the firemen who were figthing the blaze.
She often served the drunks who were too drunk to drive home, coffee. She was well known for offering coffee, pie and the bible to anyone who was willing to listen and believe it or not, many of those drunks did. Just for the taste of her homemade pie, I think.

When anyone was sick they could knock on our door and she would go out to help whoever needed it. There were times too when we were sick and we would find Mrs. Frampton or another lady helping mom take care of us. It was just something that neighbors did. What people called the neighborly thing to do. If one of them needed a sitter, I was ther to watch their kids for them and most of the time it was free of charge cause Mom would remind me that the time might come when I would need one of them to help me.

In the summer time we did not watch much t.v but we would all gather out on the front porch to play and have fun while the grownups talked about what was going on in the world. In the winter time we would be out sledding or building a snow man.

I walk through our small town now in the summer and rarely see a soul sitting out talking to their neighbors. All I see is the light of the t.v. in the window. they are busy watching t.v. or on the computer. Very few are out walking. I was happy when my daughter wrote a poem for her school one year about all the walks her and I take on a summer evening. I hope she does the same with her daughter. But, I digress...(I have been waiting ages to use that expression.)

I was talking about neighbors and how they all seem to be in their own little cubby holes, hidden behind the curtains in their home.
In the winter time I rarely see kids out playing in the snow. They are all in front of the t.v. or at the computer, much like their parents. I can't help but wonder how this can be helping them to live a long happy life. I loved making snow angels and sledding when I was a kid. They don't know what they are missing.

The town looks empty and lost sometimes. I know there is life there but it is hidden behind closed doors. I wish they would open them and step out into the sunshine again. Even the rain is wonderful to walk in when you have a friend to stop and chat with along the way.