Love Thy Neighbor?

This is supposed to be the age of such technological innovation and evolutionary improvement. Now a day does not go by in which some medical or technical advancement does not happen. Yet when it comes to humans there has not been much advancement in our attitude and views of one another. Actually there has been a devolution of sorts when it comes to the way we treat our fellow man and woman.

One only has to read the paper, watch the news on TV, head down to the local shopping mall or any place we people interact with each other to see the barbaric way we deal with each other.

Next time that you are out in traffic and do not pull fast enough when the light turns green bask in the glory as number of drivers behind use their trumpets to blow down the walls of your Jericho.

Of course this destruction of values and caring for ones fellowman is often laid at the feet of my generation or really anyone younger than 35. That is the easy way out but as we all know children learn from their parents, family, friends and the surrounding environment.

Children are not born with manners or the natural ability to be polite no more than they are born to impatient, egotistical maniacs in the making.

If one digs beneath the surface a little instead of so much finger pointing we would find the rate in which society switch from agrarian to industrial and finally to a technological base society the facet of what it means to be a community has change.

I am not some dreamy eyed person who believes that people were just nicer in years past.


Nope, never was and never will be, humans only do things that in the long run can benefit them. So in agrarian based society people had to work to together to plants crops, collect grain etc etc.. and even amongst those who had their own crops a certain level of respect had to be maintain between everyone because at any given moment ones crop could be laid asunder at any minute.

As civilization progress and we went to a more industrial base society people began to attain more and more on their own yet because of the limits of transportation at that time mostly everyone that held a job at the local factory were still part of that same community and that community in some way was depended on its agrarian counter part who his now the local butcher, school teacher and or minister.

Wit these two societies it was only natural for parents to teach their children to respectful, kind and courtesy to neighbors because who knows Johnny’s first job maybe assisting the local butcher deliver meat or keeping the shelves clean at the local hardware store.

As the industrial age came into its own and the manufacturing became more abundant more people were able to leave the communities that they work in actually it was encourage as a way to boost automobiles sales.

As more and more lived in one community but work in another the ethos of love thy neighbor became harder because one’s neighbor was actually a stranger.

Then the invention of the megacoroprations came about and slowly declared war on the small mom and pop stores which no one community fought to protect because there was no allegiance to them. Slowly everything became a race of who could accumulate more and more.

Chatter amongst neighbors went from mild concern to subliminal warfare and before long teaching children or anyone to be courteous became a nuisance unless that is somehow going to land them a spot at a prestigious pre-school academy or university in the near future…

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