Eventually, some Churches will realize they may be able to grow the number of churchgoers by emphasizing social events.
Some already do this.
this one’s 4u, bud.
There is something fundamentally wrong with a person that has no close friends.
God, Honor, Family, Friends,and Country!
(Without God and honor we are reduced to miserable creatures)
I’m also a Chicagoan. I can’t imagine moving out there, because things are bad enough here. I couldn’t tolerate them being any worse.
I didn’t have friends until I reached high school. There was maybe two people I’d hang out with any given year, but they weren’t really friends, as in I couldn’t really trust them with personal stuff. And, as it turns out, most of the friends I made in high school weren’t really friends either. After my ex and I split, they all decided that they preferred him, even though we’d all been a cohesive group from freshman year until a bit over seven years later. The 2008 election made things worse, because I’m a Libertarian and they were all Socialists, even the one getting his masters in history.
The other friends I had, including my only close lady friend, introduced me to my husband. They’re a good bunch, and most see eye to eye with me on politics, though we try not to discuss it at gatherings. It’s not polite conversation.
I personally don’t understand this business of ghosting people due to political beliefs. I never blocked anybody on social media (when I still used it) based on their ideology, at least until they became abusive. My ex’s friends blocked me in the middle of debate when I called them out on biased sources, but that’s just as well.
A friend of mine went through a fairly amicable divorce many years ago. He gave his wife and daughter his fairly new F150 since he wanted them to be safe and took her old Escort.
He was at a gas station / convenience store and was flirting with a cute ambulance driver who had fueled the vehicle and was getting a snack and a drink.
He was getting a good vibe from her when she asked, “which car is yours?” He pointed to his old, crappy Escort and she smiled and said, “WOW! You must have a huge penis!”
Someone told me long ago that Midwesterners actually run the business end of LA. Or they did.
Hope these types can counter something like this:
From ZH
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-09-06/leprosy-could-be-next-public-health-crisis-hit-los-angeles
Look around and you’ll see whole armies of workers engulfed in their professional concerns, scurrying in and out of buildings, manning computers and phones, earbuds jammed in their lobes, too busy and overwhelmed by the pressures of their lives to have time to reach out, let alone form deep and lasting bonds.
The above described activity has nothing to do with the conclusion.
There has always been all the above except so much narcissism from the MEEEEE! generation. With so much narcissism, there is no room or need for friends. Friendship require giving of yourself and compromise which MEEEEE! doesn't allow.
I can’t speak for rural areas, but the millennial generation were probably the first to have play dates and organized play, instead of just making friends on the block you lived on. Then again, this might also be because the baby boom was over and there were just fewer kids the same age on the same street.
My kids’ “best friends” in early grades didn’t live all that close to us, and their “best friends” today are from middle school, high school or later.
If 70% have a best friend, that seems pretty high compared to society in general.