We live in houses that are separated from others and with no simple way to meet each other. We often don’t even know each others’ names or anything about each other's lives. At work, relationships can be shallow as well, sharing only a social veneer.
People have friends they see sometimes on weekends, and often friendships are based around a single activity and don’t go very deep either. Many people are disenfranchised from having truly supportive relationships beyond a romantic partner or a couple of family members or friends.
So many people, but no place to meet or do things together.
In modern cities and rural areas, places where community members can build relationships are often omitted or if included, are sterile parks with a few trees, benches, and lawns, or community centers that nobody uses. You often have to have permission to use them for any group events, and use is restricted, sometimes heavily.
This isn’t how it always was. In most cultures, villages had a village circle or town square or some kind of common space to meet and interact.
Village in Namibia. Work, play, learning and more all happen here.
Many things happened there - markets, music, community meetings, celebrations. Having places to meet and do things together was an important part of community building.
A powwow arbor is a place where the community comes together to celebrate, stay up on news, organize, learn, and many other activities.
Outside of the town commons, people did barn raising together, and helped each other in many other ways. In numerous cultures people hunted, cooked, grew food, traveled, and played together as a tribe.
We have our modern versions that people flock to, but community building, getting to know one another and doing things together for mutual benefit is missing. And many people miss it, even if they don’t know exactly what they’re missing.
Outdoor concert in Rapid City, Rapid City Journal.
People have attempted to remedy this lack of connection on some level or other through a wide variety of gatherings from Burning Man to festivals to political rallies, and through intentional communities and tiny home communities.
Some retirement communities try to build relationships through various group activities, but usually interaction with the “outside world” is limited, just like it is for kids in school. We have effectively compartmented ourselves off from each other not only through our housing structures, but by age group, specialty knowledge, cultural tastes, and a host of other factors.
Is this healthy?
When we see elementary schools with metal detectors and guards, and retirement homes filled with elderly people, some with a wide range of experience, interests and skills, sitting in their room alone waiting to die, maybe not.