Sunday, May 13, 2007
isolation
Usually when we talk about isolation we are talking about nations who wish to remain apart from the rest of the world. Those nations who do not want to take on the problems of others because they focus on themselves and their needs.
Well in this case, I am talking about a friend whom I have known for decades.
This friend has lived in the same city, and basically the same neighborhood as her parents all of her life. She knows that neighborhood like the back of her hand. She knows where to shop, where to eat, where not to go after dark. She knows her neighbors and her church friends and she knows her family.
She has a college degree and considers herself well educated. She has traveled, been to Europe and around the United States. So she thinks that her observations from 2 week vacations away from her neighbors makes her qualified to judge the rest of the world and their actions.
But she is not.
She has isolated herself from the rest of the world, because in her mind there is her world - which is reality - and the rest of the world - which is a nice place to visit.
Oh sure, she reads the paper and watches the news and says "my my what a shame" when bad things happen, but she is just about the least likely person to involve herself in anything that doesn't directly impact her little world.
I pity her.
But I also fear her.
Why? Because I would venture a guess that most Americans - comfortable in their little nitche of life - are exactly the same.
If I am right and this is what America has become then I fear we are lost.
Well in this case, I am talking about a friend whom I have known for decades.
This friend has lived in the same city, and basically the same neighborhood as her parents all of her life. She knows that neighborhood like the back of her hand. She knows where to shop, where to eat, where not to go after dark. She knows her neighbors and her church friends and she knows her family.
She has a college degree and considers herself well educated. She has traveled, been to Europe and around the United States. So she thinks that her observations from 2 week vacations away from her neighbors makes her qualified to judge the rest of the world and their actions.
But she is not.
She has isolated herself from the rest of the world, because in her mind there is her world - which is reality - and the rest of the world - which is a nice place to visit.
Oh sure, she reads the paper and watches the news and says "my my what a shame" when bad things happen, but she is just about the least likely person to involve herself in anything that doesn't directly impact her little world.
I pity her.
But I also fear her.
Why? Because I would venture a guess that most Americans - comfortable in their little nitche of life - are exactly the same.
If I am right and this is what America has become then I fear we are lost.
