Blog.EmealsForYou

Neighborhood – Going the Way of the Porch? – A Rant

June 25, 2009

Growing up we always had someone stopping by to say hi.  My parents’ friends would stop by without notice on their way home or just because they were driving by.  After dinner my parents would sit out on their front porch, either in the old metal glider or the rocking chairs and talk about their workday while waving to the many people who would honk their horn going by.  It was a different time and place, people weren’t as rushed and had time for each other.

After returning from 4 years in the USAF we settled down in the same general area that our parents lived in.  Seeing old friends and making new were an everyday occasion.  As we grew up stop-by visits with friends and relatives was a regular thing.  Friends would stop by for a drink or dinner or we would stop at their houses  for the same.  It was a more relaxed time.

So now let’s jump to today’s world.  Garage doors go up, cars pull in, garage doors shut.  Our world becomes defined by work, meetings and planning for more work and more meetings.  We lock ourselves in our tight houses communicating via cell phone.  I guess if we put a photo of someone on our phones, so that when we receive a call from them we actually see their picture, we feel closer.  Front yards are for showing off, backyards are fenced for privacy.  A select group of friends make  “appointments” weeks in advance to come by for a drink or maybe a meal.

So maybe we were a little less savvy back then, a little less sophisticated.  Times were easier and less intense… but it seemed special as I look back on it now.

Dogs may be the answer, yes dogs.  In our neighborhood most people have dogs, maybe they have transferred the need for freindship to those furry creatures mindlessly chasing a ball.  The good news is that walking dogs get all of us outside… somtimes at the same time.  Conversations start up, parties are planned; people are even wandering into the backyards to share a drink and a meal.  Maybe we don’t need a porch glider, maybe a dog is just the right thing.

Entry Filed under: Rants, Semi-Rants and Non-Rants. Tags: porches, neighborhood, rocking chairs, dogs.