I often hear Xns talking about how do we, as Xns, need to get involved in our community. Sometimes that's our local (geographically) community or our work community or getting involved in some kind of hobby based community. The subtle implication behind this statement is that there are communities out there whilst Xns have ghettoised themselves in churches and we don't connect with people because we're not involved in their community but in our own Xn ghetto community.
Much of this I have said myself, now I've decided that non church going people are not really part of other communities that Xns could just be a part of if only we weren't so preoccupied with church. In my experience the people who live in the same suburb as me are about as connected as the a group of people in the same line at a supermarket. Neighbours don’t walk to the local shops together because there are no local shops there are only malls. Apart from needing someone to bring your bin in while you are on holidays there is no reason to get to know your neighbours. Work mates tend not to socialise together and the fluidity of work means highly unlikely that long term relationships at work could be established even if this was happening.
No matter what we have gained in the last 100 years it seems that one thing we all have in common is that we are very time poor. So few people have time to hang out with neighbours or work friends, few people play sports socially unless they're really good at them and most peoples hobbies are things they can do by themselves when they have a spare minute. Further more people who live in the same suburb will all work in different places, play sport in different places and have existing friends in different places. Most people seem to just have enough time to spend time with their families and small group of existing friends, which for many people I know under thirty are still friends from high school.
Rather than talking about getting involved in "the community" I'd like to hear people talking about getting involved with a person, an individual. There is no local community, no work community, no gothic community, no skater community. There are only individuals. Individuals who for the most part are too busy to be part of a community, they only have enough time to catch up with family and existing friends. Individuals who, I suspect, like me find it hard to make new friends because they are not part of these kind communities but who are always keen to meet someone who they connect with.
Much of this I have said myself, now I've decided that non church going people are not really part of other communities that Xns could just be a part of if only we weren't so preoccupied with church. In my experience the people who live in the same suburb as me are about as connected as the a group of people in the same line at a supermarket. Neighbours don’t walk to the local shops together because there are no local shops there are only malls. Apart from needing someone to bring your bin in while you are on holidays there is no reason to get to know your neighbours. Work mates tend not to socialise together and the fluidity of work means highly unlikely that long term relationships at work could be established even if this was happening.
No matter what we have gained in the last 100 years it seems that one thing we all have in common is that we are very time poor. So few people have time to hang out with neighbours or work friends, few people play sports socially unless they're really good at them and most peoples hobbies are things they can do by themselves when they have a spare minute. Further more people who live in the same suburb will all work in different places, play sport in different places and have existing friends in different places. Most people seem to just have enough time to spend time with their families and small group of existing friends, which for many people I know under thirty are still friends from high school.
Rather than talking about getting involved in "the community" I'd like to hear people talking about getting involved with a person, an individual. There is no local community, no work community, no gothic community, no skater community. There are only individuals. Individuals who for the most part are too busy to be part of a community, they only have enough time to catch up with family and existing friends. Individuals who, I suspect, like me find it hard to make new friends because they are not part of these kind communities but who are always keen to meet someone who they connect with.
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