More on Friendship
This is a single data point, but it has affected my thinking.
I talked with a good old friend a while back, who had spent two years in a Third World country with his wife and kids. Turned out that he now seemed to be depressed about living in America. One of his main complaints was something like this: "Over there, people always had time for friends. You'd always see your friends on the street, or they would drop by your house. Friends were one of the most important things. But over here, it's hard to get together, even with old friends, because they're so busy with their own lives and activities. And in your neighborhood, once in a while you'll see your neighbors. But mostly, people come home in their cars at the end of the day, and then the garage door goes down and they are just sealed off from the world."
I talked with a good old friend a while back, who had spent two years in a Third World country with his wife and kids. Turned out that he now seemed to be depressed about living in America. One of his main complaints was something like this: "Over there, people always had time for friends. You'd always see your friends on the street, or they would drop by your house. Friends were one of the most important things. But over here, it's hard to get together, even with old friends, because they're so busy with their own lives and activities. And in your neighborhood, once in a while you'll see your neighbors. But mostly, people come home in their cars at the end of the day, and then the garage door goes down and they are just sealed off from the world."
posted by Stuart Buck at
9:03 AM
2 Comments:
I think your friend hits on a valid issue. In this respect, I envy some of my friends who live in other countries. Sometimes it seems that we Americans have lost our sense of community.
I don't think this issue carries a passport. The issue is international. I live in the third world but have many of the same experiences that Stuart alludes to. If there are is a distinction to be made it lies with garage doors. Those that have garage doors (and by virtue of that probably a mortgage and "professional" job)have less time and less friends.
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