Posted by
Rural Anorak on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 7:52:03 AM
Someone close to me, family or friend I forget, said that one of the worst things to happen in this country was the invention and installation of home air conditioning. How so? Prior to the widespread installation of air condition (both window units and central air) in homes, people would spend more time outside, particularly of an evening as the air began to cool. This was extremely important. Why? This time gave people an opportunity to know their neighbours and neighbourhood. There was a genuine sense of community. Adults would speak to each other about any number of topics from the weather to politics to sports to agriculture. Children would run around, playing all types of pickup games (baseball, stickball, tag, etc…); as night deepened the children would also start to chase and catch lightning bugs. Yes, it sounds idealistic and something for a more simplistic time. Yet look at our communities now.
People don’t talk to each other at length anymore. I’ve driven through neighbourhoods and have not seen many people out and about. I work in retail and I had a customer tell me that she had neighbours move in and it was six months before she realized that they had children. She had never seen them playing outside. Our sense of community is breaking down.
By interacting regularly with people we know and don’t know, we are able to understand more about our community, both on the local and national levels. We are losing the ability to communicate effectively with those around us. A lot of this now comes from the ease of access with technology (cell phones, text messages, etc…), but it all comes back to the withdrawal into our own personal enclaves with the widespread introduction of air conditioning.
I’m not advocating getting rid of the air conditioning, but maybe we should all consider turning the things off for a period of time and allow ourselves to reconnect with our communities. You may be surprised with what you will learn.