Social glue

Back home in Australia, I no longer greet my neighbours since the day they ‘anonymously’ called the body corporate to complain about my daughter’s little dog when she comes and visit me once in a while... They also wrote letters, changed the body corporate rules... they did everything to make me dislike them. I hate to admit it, but I don’t like my neighbours... This is an extreme example of what can happen when to what should bind us together in a social group. The glue has dried up and I feel no connexion with these human beings.
Here in Rwanda, I am always amazed by how ‘strangers’ so readily talk to each other, interact in a cheerful and jovial manner. In the bus taking me to Busanze, the other day, I was amazed by how passengers who did not know each other at all quickly started to talk to each other, to laugh, to joke. The two hours journey went by very fast!
People connect with each other all the time. There is a lot of warmth between individuals, people take the time to greet each other, to shake hands, to chit-chat. It makes me wonder if in our modern, western society we have not become too cut off from each other, too caught up in our individual pursuits and perhaps a little bit too serious...