Community

Do you know your neighbors by name? Do you participate in the community?

I'm just curious about how common it is to actually know your neighbors, know what they do for a living, say hello, etc.

When we lived in the city, I think we knew too much about our neighbors. Some were great (waves to Kelli!!), and some were awful.

I suppose there are neighbors, and then there are neighbors. You know, some are neighbors that say hello, visit, swap recipes, etc. And then there are neighbors that are really just people that happen to live in the same area.

We tend to think of ourselves as loners out here in the country. We keep to ourselves, mind our own business, and basically don't bother anyone. But, when I stop to think about it, we are a bigger part of our community than we had planned to be: we know our next door neighbors by name; Big Sis volunteered at our local library; Little Sis participates in a local 4H group; we pick up trash along our street, participate in some community events...that sort of thing.

The subject of community has come up a lot recently, in various articles/books that I have been reading. Building a community in case of emergencies was suggested in one article about preparedness. I'm curious about how that is supposed to work.

So, give me your views on community: pros and cons, experiences, etc.