Nothing of Value

I saw something the other day that my dad mentioned he saw several years ago at Grandma's old house. A homeowner pulled out of her garage while the landscaping professionals were tending to her front lawn, and as near as I could tell, she didn't engage them. Didn't acknowledge them whatsoever. Just drove off, and that was that.

I was thinking how utterly lacking the Elk Grove community really is, and how it is likely the same in every suburban environment in every corner of the US. Most people on my street remotely open the garage door, drive in and close it, and that's the entire exchange of human interaction they will have with their neighbors that week -- zero. On my street, if say a high angled meteor came down and destroyed everyone else's house but this woman's, she would likely shrug and drive past the rubble into her garage and that would be that.

Would any part of her life change? No. She has no need for neighbors. They provide nothing of value. They don't count on her for anything, and she doesn't count on them. I would bet lunch that if she needed a half cup of vegetable oil, she'd sooner take the 4.5 mile round trip drive to the nearest store than ask a neighbor. If her next door neighbor happened to work at that same store (not likely at all) he'd still provide nothing of value. Only the store does, and the unknown people who service it and make food show up on the freezers and shelves.

This is my observation. I have lived in a suburban environment my entire life, and I really don't know what it would be like to live in a place where my skills have a direct impact on a neighbor, and vice versa. I would like to know -- but I doubt I ever will. Even as gas moves up and up, she'll still drive to the store for oil.