Who Are We to Our Neighbors Now?

With social distancing so crucial to our survival, how will we help each other when help requires presence?

Photo by Tina Lear

We need each other.

We’re going to find out how much as the days go tumbling by. But as more and more restrictions are placed on our movements (either by outside forces or by common sense), how are we going to help each other? Fear has paralyzed not only our movements but our minds as well.

Last night, I started thinking about the block I live on. We live in the suburbs, in an upper middle class neighborhood right down the street from an elementary school and a high school. It still has a wonderful small town feel. For instance, the Raindew Pharmacy, a five-minute walk away, is one of those iconic places that always has what I need. And no matter how weird it is (once I needed a certain kind of stitch holder for a knitting project), they have it.

Anyway, it’s a neighborhood I love. But we’ve lived here seventeen years and we still don’t really know our neighbors. Here’s the sum of what I know:

• Across the street, our super close friends who have a 13-year-old daughter that we consider to be part ours. Aside from that, it goes like this:
• To our left, the very nice airline pilot (from…