Posted on 06/07/2017 11:21:34 AM PDT by simpson96
I live in a small NY town with a near 200 year history. Neighbors know each other. Some are quiet and don't want contact, but many others stop to chat, will stop by for a burger on July 4th, help each other during a big snowstorm, etc...
Have some siblings who moved to SoCal and Phoenix. their neighborhoods are strange to me. People are generally polite, but never mix, as you point out. Most are transients who seem to move every couple years, but even those who have lived side-by-side for 15 years never speak. Also being transient in nature with a lot more turnover, you can see fast changes (i.e. declines) to the neighborhood. Watch out when the first welfare queen and her fatherless son's pack of pit bulls move in....
Sounds like my future neighborhood.
“I have never been to their homes or had a conversation with any of them since.”
Want friends? Buy a welding machine and learn to use it. You will make friends fast.
Unless you charge two dollars to spot weld a lawn mower which is $73.00 less than the local welding shop. If you charge to offset the cost of gasoline, rods, and occasional bottle of oxygen you will become known as a horrible person.
......”and the love of many will wax cold because of lawlessness”.....
That does sum it up.
I brought a baby gift to my neighbor... she didn’t allow me to hold the baby because she didn’t know how clean my hands were....meanwhile her kitchen was filthy....I should have not given her the gift...never received a thank you either....pure trash.
Similar. Saw “lost dog” and “found dog” signs, contacted both to connect them, dog was returned, owner seemed kind of annoyed at me.
What’s the problem? Really not everybody wants to be friendly with their neighbors. I’ve always kept the neighbors at arm’s length, neighbors always know when you’re home and i don’t want any Kramers in my life. It’s great to have friends, but it’s better if they have to call first.
Maybe they didn't really want the dog back, but only posted the "lost dog" signs because they told the kids that they would do so.
I guess I got lucky with my street. We’re racially diverse (white, Korean, Taiwanese, Italian, Vietnamese, Mexican/Honduran, etc.) and everyone seems friendly. My Korean neighbors next door have trouble with their command of the English language, but are super sweet and always quick with a smile when we make eye contact. Mexican guy down the street and his Honduran wife chat us up about our dogs and theirs and brought a big platter of homemade food down on New Year’s Eve a few years ago because the kids were celebrating with friends and mentioned something about taquitos in passing. So the neighbors hooked them up bigly.
Orange County seems to be much friendlier than L.A. County from my experience.
And kudos to the author of the article for bringing fresh-baked bread to welcome the neighbors. What a kind gesture.
God bless you
Funny. When I saw the headline I thought “sounds just like southern California”.
Part of the problem here in SoCal is the huge influx of immigrants who choose only to associate with their own tribe. They have little interest in getting to know the Americans who live here.
......” Part of the problem, I think, is the younger families don’t want to make contact with older people, they are too busy with their own lives”......
Oh I don’t think so.....they are no busier than any other 40 to 60 hour workweek people have all over the nation. I just think computers have replaced neighboring....social networks etc..... Certainly for this generation. They are all wired up 24/7...one way or another.
However we are the only country that fails greatly to honor the elderly. ....and even parents once the kids leave school and home.
When my sons went to college I advised them when hanging out to pay attention and strike up conversations with the elderly, that they have a wealth of first hand experience far more interesting and significant they can learn from than they will any computer....and they will remember those meetings.
To this day my sons have both done so and said it was some of the best advise I could have given them...they both met elderly men who shared and advised them when they were so far from home....and even today they love visiting with the elderly....
They keep to themselves, mow their grass and don’t have loud parties.
I guess it’s because they are retired military, they moved around for 30 years and never made many friends or socialized much.
But my next door neighbor is retired AF and they aren’t like them..............
I grew up in a Southern California suburb in the 60s and 70s and our neighbors all knew and socialized with each other.
My wife is my best friend...we go out to dinner, drive around the mountains, drop into a Blue Ridge micro for a beer, and laugh at the clientele at Trader Joe’s. She has two friends, and I have none. I like it that way. I just don’t find people that interesting. Meh.
Almost forgot...my wife bakes bread; I have toast. The neighbors know where the store is.
If you don’t get something out of your efforts...stop!
I enjoy what I do and don’t worry about it anymore. Occasionally I am too busy to comply to their requests.(?)
This is Florida and so a lot of Northern East Coast people who seem to just think you are there for their use, NO!
This week I have been making homemade cards to give to the Honor Flight veterans who do not otherwise have people to submit them for the “mail call” at the close of their day in DC. I am so excited...I received 20 1 ounce copper coins with the Statue of Liberty embossed on them... JM Bullion.com
“Thank you for preserving my LIBERTY” may be the message I write on the cards with the coins and patriotic ribbons glued on the front!!
I have started collecting school supplies from anyone I can get to clean out their desks and specials at the office supply stores or Target. I did it for the children of Walter Reed patients for years...now have found a school with about 1/3 homeless kids who are dropped off there by parents...IMAGINE!!
I need to contact candidates who lost elections and see if they have pens and pencils to donate. Just thought of that
now...thanks for the stimulus!
That's my story, and I am sticking to it.
; )
But one child abduction and rape you did have a in 2002, Elizabeth Smart, was national and international news for months, and still pops up every once in awhile. Then there was the huge Warren Jeffs scandal of a few years later, with all the domestic abuse and child rape in his commune. No wonder people have been sensitized.
Yes, you have to take the good with the unfriendly. My next door neighbor for ten years was a slob who once left his old toilet in the front yard for 6 months. (We offered to take it away!) But he and his family were lovely and always came to our parties. I so miss them.
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