Loss of Ethical Community Supports

Bonnie, your description of the neighborhood in which you grew up is arresting.  In fact, your peers, the kids with whom you played, and their parents reinforced ethical codes, standards through their behaviors and interactions with you.  Add to this, the power of family members to nurture ethical growth in us through their actions, which you also enjoyed.  Sadly, it seems such Norman Rockwell American days are too often behind us now.  People live in isolation more and more from each other because of time demands of jobs and constant moving in search of jobs.  Our parish church while we are in Florida is mostly "snow birds" - and they are retired.  As a result, they have time to socialize with each other; it makes a huge difference in the feel of the parish.  At home in Wisconsin people still work and must rush to get home to get things done.  As a result, our home parish has very little social interaction, as does the street on which we live.  Yes, we call it loss of community, but with it also goes lose of ethical support.  Maybe we can reverse this in time.  Dr. Rux