While I don’t expect that Carson concerned himself too much about the neighbors since they were miles away from Downton Abbey, I have seen concern for those in the town, live on the property etc.

And so with that thought, are you a good neighbor? I’m not sure that I am.

Growing up, my neighbors were an extended part of my family. Everyone helped everyone out, wandered in and out of each others houses, and celebrated together. Since I was lucky enough to grow up on an old estate modern day Downton-I lived in a servants house.<nice but it wasn’t a mansion> We gardened together in a roughly thrown together community garden, chopped fire wood together for everyone to use, tapped maple trees, and made maple syrup. It was a true community.

So you can imagine that living this way, in a small town as well where everyone knew each other, that I would expect to have this way of life when I settled down. Nope, that life seems very far away.

I live in a suburb where just about family has dual incomes and kids, if there are any, are heavily scheduled during afternoons & weekends. Since there is enough income, most lawns are taken care of by a landscaping company, vacations spent elsewhere. So knowing this, its surprising that I know any of my neighbors.

When we first moved to this neighborhood, most people still did their own lawns so you would end up chatting it up while outside. A few block parties later, and it seems like a cohesive group. But as with anything, it takes effort which seems to be in short supply when everyone is super busy all the time and you feel like you barely have enough time for your own family.

As people focus on getting through their days, its easy to forget about those that are closest to you-literally. During the holidays, there may be a brief exchange of baked goodies and then that’s it for months. I have one neighbor, who has small children who leaves baked goodies for us for no reason. It always brings me back to my childhood and I pledge to do better. However, as I have been at home more and more, I’m not sure I could be a better neighbor even if I wanted to as very few people are ever around.

So I ask you-are you a good neighbor or just a drive thru neighbor?