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It seems that there are a lot of neighborhood heroes. This morning on the radio, I heard of a woman who was in her last trimester going into a burning building to rescue her neighbor. Her comment was something to the effect of that she could not just let her neighbor burn!
A few days ago, Jenna over at ChoosingHome Blog posted about being hospitable to our neighbors. She talked about a neighbor down the street who she was able to minister to and be ministered by.
In this modern era, we’ve lost the family gatherings, the Sunday drives and the like to replace them with an afternoon nap or a ball game. We don’t prioritize talking with the older generation for whatever reason: they’re old, they aren’t keeping up, I don’t have the time and the like.
I can remember my grandpa talking about how his family had an open door policy– anyone off the street could come in and grab something to eat– there was more than plenty. Now we get all upset if we don’t get three days notice.
Something’s changed in our culture. We don’t value the wisdom of those who have gone before, we don’t value things which are truly important, and I think that we, as a society, will suffer because of it.
What are some memories of family get togethers you have? Who in your neighborhood is a widow or could use someone to talk with, and what have you done to reach them?
During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I stayed with my parents. They didn’t have electricity or water but they were off the coast and away from the worst of the damage. My parents live on a road with my grandfather, and I have three uncles and their wives and children who also live on that road.
It was interesting to see that we got together and combined the quickly thawing foods from our freezers and BBQ’d each night. We spent the rest of the evening on my parents front porch talking and catching up. I don’t know when this has happened before.
If we’d had electricity, everyone would have been at home watching television or playing video games.
Although it was a tragic experience for many, I felt like this was a very special time for my family to come together and reunite! Funny that it took something like that horrible storm to get us to see that it was a worthwhile way to spend our time!
Oh, by the way, I ended up looking up the article you were talking about from Answers in Genesis. I updated my post and linked to it. Thanks for the tip.
No problem! It is interesting how, when we take technology away, we tend to get close to those that are around us in a way that we don’t normally.
Last Christmas, my daughters and I started a tradition that blessed us equally or moreso than it blessed others. We made gingerbread houses and took them to our local rest home. Then we went room to room singing Christmas carols. If there’s a Cloud Ten, we were on it as we left. Those people are precious and so sentimental…they really appreciate contact with “the outside world”…we made some good friends…
None of us can speak for another persons family. You may look across the street at your neighbor and see that they never visit their parents. You then think that they don’t care about them or care for their wisdom, but for all you know they may call their parents every night to speak with them, they may be on hard times and can’t afford the expense to take a visit to them. In other words you judge without knowing the whole story. You don’t know if families are any closer than when it took a half a year to go visit the family left behind in the other state, you don’t know if friends are any more carring since they saw eachother once a month on market day if then. Times are changing as they always have, and as they change we find diffrent ways to communicate. Also as always, though, the older generation looks down upon and says we are losing all our values and losing our contact with humanity. Oh well, someday I will be in the older generation and I will do the same as you are doing now.
Let me ask you a question, Loc.
What shows greater value placed in your family:
1. Packing up the car and going to see them.
2. Talking to them on the telephone while you’re on the can, doing laundry, and making dinner.
I’d argue that both of them show value, but I can also make a good case that you show more love when you do #1.
I’d also go so far as to say that it’s one thing to talk about your kids with your parents, it’s another thing to ask them for advice or to talk with them on a heart to heart basis.
I was fascinated to read the other day (I’ll have to look for it sometime) that I was reading this one site of 10 things to do in your relationship that you’ll always remember and one of them was go to a nursing home and ask people what makes for a good relationship. Not call them on your cell while you’re in traffic, but actually go and spend time.
The more that we’ve mechanized the more that I think that we’ve replaced spending time with someone to considering people just another source of information and something that I can arrange on my terms.
And you consider 31 in the older generation? — Man, I am feeling old now!