“Neighbors are not nothing, not a bit more like they used to be than nothing in the world. On back behind here, folks has lost the love for each other. What the cause is, is too much money. People used to do and go and walk for miles and sit down and talk to their friends and neighbors for three or four hours at a time. Now they’re all in a hurry.”
Willard Watson— “Mountain Voices” by Warren Moore
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I’m much younger than Mr. Watson, but even I can remember when folks had more time on their hands. When I was a child Granny and Pap had time to go and visit almost every weekend and in turn have visitors over to our house as well.
I’d have to say I agree with Mr. Watson…we’re all in a hurry.
Tipper
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The love of money and the rush to get it is really at the at root of a lot of evil, causing us. to rush by and miss a lot of true joys. As In the days before air conditioning in our automobiles, we rode around with the windows down and could smell the smells of nature (manure and the tobacco curing in the barns) and hear people shouting hellos to us on the roads or inviting us up on the porch to sit a spell. Rather than being aware of how we can help each other, we now tend to first assess their potential to help us get ahead. Perhaps we should remember the words of one of John Prine’s songs wherein he exhorts us to slow down, take time to talk to old people and just say, “Hello in there.”
I am in total agreement the other comments today, the faster our life gets the less quality we find in it.
It is a shame the Luddite movement didn’t suceed. Spending my entire life’s work in the industry of automating manufacturing with robot and smart devices, now that concept has entered the home I not sure that was the correct direction and wonder if in ten years the only things people can do are text and depend on their echo, sirri or goggle devices for the day to day life activities.
There was something to be said about the community country stores where you could always find a group discussing the events of the day or spining a tall tale. The Sunday dinners where family took time to visit and nobody had to sneak a peek at their smart phone.
Ah, I do remember the visiting when I was young spending time with my grandparents. And at Christmas I loved nothing more than sitting by the fireplace and listening to all the old stories. Yes, we have a lot of bad things going on but I also see the good things. When we moved out here about 44 years ago, God put us on a street with a bunch of people that had moved from somewhere else too. It was a hot July day when we moved in and while putting things away I stepped out on the back patio and found a huge pitcher of sweet tea. I later found out it was our next door neighbor who had brought it over. She turned out to be almost a twin of me. We loved the same things, had the same morale values and went to church together. Really the people on this street became like a family to us. I would sit on their porches and just enjoy conversation. Years later after our children were grown and gone, we had a new home built and landed smack dab in between two of the best young Christian families I know. All of our snow was gone from over a week ago, but early this morning we got snow and our science computer technology professor is out in our driveway right now plowing off the snow with his John Deere tractor. Apparently, the schools have a two hour delay. I am sure his wife has already left for Dickinson College as she is an accounting professor there and they don’t delay for snow. Their children have been brought up in the knowledge of the Lord and have accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The neighbors on the other side raising three little girls without television as we know it. He is a computer systems guru with a big health insurance company and his wife is a teacher in the local school system. Just when I thought the world was going to hell in a handbag, these young families came into our lives and renewed my spirit. They constantly check on us and see if there is anything we need. Lots of bad out there but I see a lot of good too.
I’m not on twitter and really not facebook. I am kept busy just trying to take care of our home, sewing projects and crocheting but I have always had a love for creeks, streams, old country roads and sitting by a fireplace. I can tell you most emphatically, I would rather sit in a boat with fishing pole enjoying the water and fish than be walking any asphalt road unless that road meandered by a beautiful creek with a pasture of cows on the other side of the road. I would rather sit down to a supper of soup beans cooked with ham and cornbread on the side than a steak, lobster or McD. And I would rather have a rocking chair session with an old timer than wear any ear buds.
We went to visit family or friends every Sunday when I was growing up. We would stay for hours and would eat supper with them most of the time. Imagine a family of six coming in unannounced in today’s busy world. All my siblings, children and grandchildren live in the same county. Sometimes I feel like I would see a few of them just as often if they lived across the country.
I have four older first cousins who made a promise to each other to spend one full day together at one of their homes. That has been a tradition for years with none of them making excuses not to attend. They spend the day making pies and cakes and delivering them to friends and neighbors.
I affirm Miss Cindy and Jim Casada’s comments about the cell phone and further will add that it is the beginning of the end. “Social media” is the wrong name–it should be “ANTI-SOCIAL” media–and it certainly is a social disease…
As my Mama said, “People are in a hurry to go nowhere.” I like hanging out clothes and hearing the birds sing and watching the squirrels scurrying around. We have a hawk in our neighborhood and it’s so exciting to see him. I named him Horatio. I enjoy taking walks around my neighborhood. There’s always something new to see. I saw a holly tree in a back yard that was loaded with so many berries you could hardly see the green leaves. My husband and I were never nor are now part of that rat race lifestyle.
True, we have forgotten how to hold a conversation. Some times I go for days without hearing a voice other tgan my own. Text8ng is the prefered method of communication
I love the old watermelon pictures. I remember the summer family get togethers that centered around water melon cutting. Perhaps thats because I always loved watermelon so much.
Families don’t get together like that any more. Your right Tip, we are always too busy and I don’t think you could hold a big slice of watermelon and a cell phone at the same time!
The speed of living comes from the speed at which we can do daily tasks. The faster we can do them, the more we can – and usually will – cram into the time. Learning to do enough, but not too much, takes a lot of practice.
Tipper–In a hurry, glued to a TV, linked to that insidious umbilical cord known as an iPhone (or something like that; I ain’t got one), tempted by Twitter, fixated on Facebook, titillated by texting; and generally terrorized by technology.
Ask some questions?
Would I rather hear a hawk scream or wander avenues of asphalt?
Would I rather sit down to a supper of soup beans cooked with streaked meat and cornbread on the side or rush to McDonalds?
Would I rather have a rocking chair session with some tale telling old timers or walk about with ear buds holding my attention?
We’ve lost our way, it seems, and though I never text or use any type of social media except the computer (e-mails, blogs), I’m guilty. At times I wonder if much modern technology comes from the arsenal of the Devil. But then what do I know? I’m a confirmed troglodyte who two centuries ago likely would have been a Luddite.
Jim Casada
I believe Families have suffered greatly because of it, no one knows one another as they use too, everybody is meeting and greeting at the front door on their way in or out, the day’s problems and experiences was once shared with the Family, now social media is the sharing place, more convenience less time, things going on in families like the day of Sodom and Children committing suicided and the Parent didn’t realize what was going on in the Childs life, you hear very often. We’ve played right along with Satans handbook, ” Separate the influence of the Family, then the influence of Church will suffer also”. God help us all.