Just some spur of the moment thoughts…

I saw some poll where it asked Black people in my age group what they had when they were young ad don’t have anymore. “What do you miss now that you had back then?” And the number one answer was a sense of community.

But then someone asked, why do you feel like you lost that? What happened? No one really answered that.

Thing is, the people in my age bracket are the ones making these decisions. They are heads of families, making decisions. They are the ones making that happen. We can’t look at our parents’ generation for “you got us into this”, we are the active ones now.

So, what happened that people feel like they lost community? I think the answer is simple; money and permanence. Community existed because we were in places, whether houses or apartments, for long periods of time. We knew our neighbors. Our friends went to school with us. Now, because of a wonky economy, folks are moving, because they have to and they may want to. No time to put down roots on a consultant gig. No time to know your neighbors if you grinding and hustling and aren’t home.

And in this paper chase, you realize what you miss. No one is an island. It still takes a village.