My goal on this one is to get you to go out of your way and say hello to a neighbor you haven't said hello to in quite a while - maybe even never.
I was at a potluck supper last night. I sat with neighbors I have known for a year or so. Very nice people. It turns out they have lived there for years and don't know another wonderful couple who have lived less than a block from them for many many years. I told them I would do something about that. One way or another, I am getting them together.
It's a shake-your-head kind of thing. Two wonderful couples, similar in age, really nice, and all these years within a block of each other. How does that get missed?
IT TAKES INTENT!
Sorry, I don't think life is THAT busy. We all have time to say hello.
It takes courage. But only a little. Nobody wants to feel foolish striking up a conversation with "a stranger" - even one who has been a neighbor for years.
I think we fear connection - what if they start expecting things of me? What if I don't like them? What if they don't like ME?
I don't know many people who think "Neighborhood Watch" is a bad thing. But I would like to think it should be the by-product of BEING neighbors, not an anonymous security force of strangers living near to each other. If I know my neighbor, I have a more natural sense when something is off.
But more important than that, saying hi to a neighbor has a far higher likelihood of producing a new acquaintance, even a friend, than it does of producing embarrassment or disappointment.
Really... one neighbor. One word. Five minutes. And the result is a slightly altered disposition on the neighborhood and a stronger community.
Let me know how that works out for you...