Screw Fences, Good Neighbors Make Good Neighbors.

As I drive through my neighborhood, I realize that I have a small number of neighbors that I associate with.  These are the neighbors that help me carry an old water heater to the curb on trash day or the ones who knock on my door to let me know the dog is out.  The rest of my neighbors are strangers.  They typically answer my friendly waves with a scowl.  When did we come to this point?  When I was a kid, my grandparents knew most of the people on their block.  Now we are all strangers.

The worst part about not knowing your neighbors is not only that you do not know who to turn to in a crisis, it is the way people lack consideration.  People speed where children are playing.  They park their cars in the middle of the road.  They do not sweep up their grass clippings.  The reason is that they feel nobody will criticize a stranger.  Nobody will knock on their door and say, "Hi, I'm Nick from next door.  Your dog crapped in my yard.  Come pick it up!".

It works the other way too.  We notice someone down the street needs to paint their house and mow their yard.  Instead of striking up a friendly conversation, we call the Home Owner's Association.  We may have just dropped the dime on a poor widow or a man that has terminal cancer.

After a recent natural disaster, my neighborhood was without power for days.  It was hot and boring inside, so we all went outside.  Neighbor helped neighbor cut down trees and clean up yards.  Neighbors shared beers and food that would spoil without refrigeration.  We were not just neighbors at that point, we were friends.  When the power came back on, we all retreated inside and have hardly spoke since.

The next time you are outside cutting your grass (or paying the guy that cuts your grass) and you see a neighbor, take a minute to walk over and say hi.  It really sucks in a time of need to walk up to a stranger and say, "help".