It has been since recorded time

It has been since recorded time that people have said that youth are less respectful (Plato or Socrates) and that society is going to hell in a hand basket. Today is no different. We complain about the youth of today and all of the horrible news about the schools with all of the shootings and stabbings, but what are we doing about it? I, just like you, have opinions and they’re probably just as bad as everyone else’s. I too, however, have noticed that no one knows his or her neighbors and no one seems to check on each other anymore. “When we were young the world was a much different place” (as it was in our parents’ time as well). The neighborhood I grew up in, in the 1960’s, was an area known as Charjean and Airways in Memphis ,TN USA and the neighbors knew each other and looked after all of us kids and each other. If someone in your family died your house would be full of food and neighbors dishing it out to all of the mourners. The love that we had not only came from our parents, but our friends and their parents. Our parents were not scared for us to stay out after dark because they knew where we were and who was looking after us, but it wouldn’t be long before you would hear someone calling or whistling for their children to come home because the street lights had come on and, magically, all of us kids would disappear into the comfort and safety of our homes. What I think is wrong with America today, is that our social networks are impersonal and long distance and without personal contact. We know more about people several states away from us, and sometimes people we've never met before, because of all of the digital, texting and socializing that we are doing today. The world has gotten so impersonal that we forget

that the person next door has feelings and needs to be wanted and loved. I can’t help but think that a loving touch or a hug from a neighbor to a neighbor is more important and rewarding to our soul than how many “likes” you have collected on what you have written today. Yes, I am caught up in it as well and I couldn’t tell you all of the neighbors names that live on my street but I bet my parents could have told you the names of the neighbors that lived on the adjacent four blocks. It’s a sad state of affairs that we are no longer in touch, not only with our neighbors, but our extended families, with only the written word to comfort us. So I do my best to find at least one stranger a day to say hello to. Love is a universal cure for all that ails us and I also think it is a good remedy for America’s problems as well and a prayer would not hurt either.