As we prepare for Y2K, we must turn to our neighbors as our support system. My own experience tells me how difficult this will be, but it is essential. Our wonderful transportation system allows us to work, shop, and play in other communities away from where we live. Parents often take their children to daycare not in their neighborhood, but near their work.
People travel to the best jobs miles away from home.
Religious groups and institutions no longer concentrate on serving the neighborhood, but seek to attract as many worshipers as they can from as far as they can. Neighborhood schools, neighborhood churches, and the feeling of neighborliness in our neighborhoods has faded. We often don't even recognize our neighbors. Not if there is a petroleum shortage. Not if electricity is scarce causing traffic lights and gas pumps to stand idle.