Originally it was going to be “over the last twenty years” but I decided to be more flexible.
A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, “no one talks to each other in person, they’re on their phones always” and the like.
Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?
I’m about 12 years older than you and what you have written pretty much sums up my life on the outskirts of the South Shore of Montreal. All those Creeks are gone. The train tracks that used to support 20 kids playing everyday have been fenced off. The BMX track is now a golf course. And the forests are all reduced to a line of single trees dividing subdivisions.
But the quoted bit is the part that hurts my heart the most. I grew up in a community. When I had my kids I created a community for other kids and their families to feel part of.
We would do small cookouts, babysit for each other, play music together. Once in awhile someone would pop out a projector and bring it outside and we’d have a community movie night.
My kids’ kids don’t see this. They live in basically the same place but the community left and only the individuals remain behind.