From Generation X by Douglas Coupland:
Terminal Wander Lust‚ A condition common to people of transient middle-class upbringings. Unable to feel rooted in any one environment, they move continually in the hopes of finding an idealized sense of community in the next location. (page 171)
The reason this one caught my interest was the kernel that touched on the lack of community that many people seem to feel.
My parents grew up in neighborhoods where everybody knew each other. They still know and see people from the old neighborhood, keep in touch with people who moved away by email and everybody knows who is having kids, getting married, getting divorced, or has died.
The neighborhood where they lived (and live) was in the city. The next house was close enough that if you leaned out a window you could almost touch it. Neighbors were really neighbors, not “adjacent property owners”. This could be really bad, if your neighbor was a drunk. It could also be good as the folks next door would watch out for you as you watched out for them.
I’m not trying to idealize city living; I can testify that it can be really annoying when your neighbor is a musician who has a habit of practicing the same song all day long (all week long, all month long). I’m simply saying it’s easier to create a community if you don’t have to drive 30 minutes when delivering a casserole and condolences to a close friend who needs to know they have friends as a tragedy unfolds.
That’s the community I want.
I try to keep a network of friends that resembles a community, something like my parents have today. The problem is that they live everywhere around the city and surrounding counties. When people are scattered so far apart, it’s a network. I call them when something special has happened; we set up events where we can meet and do something we enjoy but that you can’t do alone. But I don’t see them on the porch and remark about funny smelling water or wonder if we’re going to have any more warm days before October comes.
Where can I move for that? Does that place exist?
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I think I’m going to have to pick this book up. It sounds very interesting.
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