Good Neighbor

When did our concept of a “good neighbor” change?

When I was a kid, neighbors came over to our house, and we went over to their houses.  Neighbor women gave home permanents to Mom.  Neighbor men gave advice about lawn fertilizers to Dad.

Neighbors kept an eye out for our dog, which was free to roam wherever she wanted, and they probably kept an eye out for me, since I was also free to roam.

My favorite neighbors would invite us over for lunch.  They ate pancakes for lunch, something which seemed rather illicit to my young mind.

The concept of neighborliness once meant visiting your neighbors and doing favors for your neighbors. 

Nowadays, the neighborly thing to do is to not visit your neighbors and not do favors for them.  The definition has changed; a “good neighbor” is now defined as someone who does not bother you.

New Yorkers are well known for not bothering their neighbors.  But when the World Trade Center was attacked on SEP 11, 2001, New Yorkers started talking to their neighbors, started finding things in common with these people who were like strangers to them.

One New Yorker wanted to see if he could maintain this interaction among strangers.  He turned to the internet and created the Meetup system.

Through the Meetup system, which is free, people can find others in their locality with common interests.  There are Meetup groups all around the world.  In St. Louis alone, there is an urban farmers group, a Texas holdem group, an interior design group, an investment group, an atheists group, a hip mothers group, a web startup group, a nudist group, and dozens of others.

I became a member of the St. Louis Urban Experiences Meetup --- 450 people interested in St. Louis arts and culture.  The leader arranges an event, such as a tour of a historic building followed by a meal at a restaurant, you go to www.meetup.com, you RSVP, and then you can see all the names and photos of the other Urbanites who are planning to attend. 

Quite a handy system.

At Meetups, I have found people who want to go on my walking tours, I have arranged for someone to teach me WordPress, I have been invited to speak to a high school class.  This is not exactly the neighborliness that I knew as a kid, but it is nice to have this form of neighborliness in the Internet Age.

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com