Plough magazine devoted its Winter 2023 issue to the topic of “generations.” In the recent history of western nations, interaction between generations has become less important. Suburban growth led first to the nuclear family, then to an increase in single adults living away from any daily family connection.
As the family became less important, so did institutions that nurtured family, including religious gatherings and school support groups. Society became tethered to careers and the office. Social gatherings tended to coalesce around career.
The Covid pandemic isolated us further. Even our work togetherness deteriorated as workers carried out their duties through remote settings.
I grew up a long time ago in a community where neighbors met each other in unplanned social gatherings. We would sit out on our porch during the summer and neighbors would stop by and chat for a while. During the winter, they visited spontaneously in the evenings in our living room. I sat on the floor and listened to the adults tell jokes and share ideas.
Those same neighbors joined to support local school carnivals and other events to raise money for school projects. Churches sometimes hosted events for the entire neighborhood. Members of one church would support the events of neighboring churches.
We should not paint such an idyllic picture of such times that we forget the sins of the era, as well, like segregation and all white governments. Yet some of the movements that led to the dismantling of those systems were crafted in small groups of friends and in neighborhood settings.
Our current tendency to isolation can only increase unhealthy practices like drug use and hatred spewed over internet channels. And certainly, face to face meetings are not always ideal, as they can be overtaken by uncivil groups seeking to cause disruption.
What encourages civility and neighborliness? Perhaps those casual meetings between neighbors, as well as small groupings of the like-minded can begin to overcome the processes that are pulling us apart.
Worth a try, at least. Better to carry out the old saying: “It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”