When I used to walk my golden retrievers they always got lots of attention and people asking to pet them.
Why am I sharing this with you? It was a great sense of community that it created and it was so nice to be able to talk to my neighbors in a friendly and safe way.
We have lost our sense of community in the US. I am not sure that we ever had it. A community cares for its members, but when people are desperate to survive economically it doesn’t give people either the willingness or time to help others like we could.
It is often tragedy that brings communities together. Sadly too often we only empathize with others when we also have suffered with them. Why can’t we bond over people’s successes rather than feeling intimated or jealous of other people’s success?
The dog got lots of love when we we out and the neighbors got to know who I was and even greeted me when I was walking them. When I took the dog to the dog park in a singles neighborhood I was a little overwhelmed by women who asked to pet them. It was a nice experience being approached in a friendly way through interest in my dog.
Community is something we need and we have to find a way to find a safe way to widen it.