Comment by JohnFen

> If only community were really so easy...

I've actually found that it is pretty easy. All it takes is to be willing to talk to your neighbors. Not necessarily in terms of engaging them with deep and long conversations, but just lots of the little "meaningless" ones. Saying hello in passing instead of pretending they don't exist. Learning, remembering, and addressing them by their names. Asking how they're doing. Asking how their kids, spouse, work, etc. is getting along. Offering a helping hand every so often goes a long way, too.

It seems to me that social isolation is self-reinforcing, and that once someone starts breaking the ice, the interactions that create community start to happen naturally.

It's these interactions that form the foundations of community. It's not a matter of making friends with your neighbors, but a matter of having your neighbors no longer actually be strangers.

This turned into a lecture I didn't intend. My intention was just to relay my observations and experiences with my neighbors.