The picture above brings back many memories for me from the summers of my childhood. Many afternoons or evenings would find family members relaxing on the front porch after dinner, visiting with neighbors who came by, playing card games, or board games, or sitting on the front steps waiting for it to get dark enough for the lightening bugs to come out. This picture is especially precious to me because it reminds me of the chess championship some of us kids had going on my block one summer. While I never got to be a chess wiz, I credit those lazy afternoons and evenings with teaching me the finer points of focus, seeing the whole picture, and learning to take life one step, one move, at a time.
One of the things that touched my heart during these last 18 months when COVID drove us all inside was how so many people took advantage of their front porches and balconies to stay connected to life and to find ways to interact with each other. Some people shared their musical talents with their neighbors. Some made signs or just waved hello to people. For so many it was a safe place to break out of the confines of our homes and connect with the rest of the world. The sad part of this is that it took a pandemic to get us out there.
Technology is wonderful and it has given us many great gifts, but sometimes I ask myself how many things it has taken away as well. Long before the pandemic we were closeted up in our homes with our faces glued to our devices. Facebook, Twitter, streaming and online shopping kept us away from fresh air, sunshine, and each other. I fear a future world where our children and grandchildren grow up suffering from eye problems from staring at those screens day and night, hearing problems from hours plugged in to ear buds, and no people skills to help them interact with each other face-to-face. While I am grateful that Zoom kept our kids in school in many cases as well as kept people at their jobs, might we start thinking about drawing a line between necessity and addiction? After so much time stuck in front of a screen, wouldn't it be nice now that restrictions are being lifted to move outside to feel the sun, hear the birds, and see each other without a screen separating us?
So, what better place to start than revisiting our front porches? If you don't have one, get together with someone who does and start a new trend! Make a pitcher of lemonade or sweet tea and invite folks to come up and sit a spell, quenching their thirst for more than a cold drink ... quenching their thirst for togetherness and neighborhood building again.
And so it is.
