Thoughts in writing 1

When I grew up, we lived in a neighborhood in a city. We had neighbors, as the name neighborhood implies. We knew the residents of the apartment building or block, even if not by name. We recognized the children that played there and the parents looked out for all of them.
Today we live in a society that has no common thread except for roommates and the neighbor on each side, also above and below. Usually due to noise, water leaks, mail mixups, and the like.
It was not a pleasure to walk up to about a mile to go to school, but it was healthy. It allowed each of us to become familiar with the neighborhood and its residents. And we could meet our classmates on the way for fun and games. It stimulated us in a way that no bus ride could.
The teachers knew our families and weren't afraid to talk to them. It even turned out that the parents overlooked a few smacks on the back of the head during school hours, believing that we probably deserved them.
When we were older we played in parks instead of schoolyards. The parks had more room and apparatus to play on. We met more children to play around with and mingled with kids from different schools. Rivalrys developed, and pride gave us something to be better than others.
Boy/Girl friends sometimes lasted past school and turned into marriage. They did not always last, but neither did all of our parents' marriages.
Full time jobs gave us new responsibilities, but they were involved into our main priority, the family. The work ethic was strong, although a few did manage to get by on favoritism, nepotism, and charisma. These were probably as successful as others, and some envy did result. There were times when we did without just because it was being responsible.
As I look at today, I see a loss of all of these things.
But how does anyone tell someone what they are missing if they cannot or will not relate.
The values have changed today. The politicians have removed all controls and regulations of big business and it allows for the greed factor to rule the marketplace. It has also changed the way our youth look at the world.
We have so many new immigrants that labor is now cheap. It seems to be that life is also made cheap. If a family struggles, so what. It is not the problem of us or anyone else, until it hits home. But we have so many entitlement programs in place that a foreign born person can get as much or more than a native born citizen just for a vote. The person who has contributed can no longer rely on some form of assistance to help during those times of lean income or unemployment.
It has become a crime to speak ill of our foreign immigrants or other than our own race or religion. It is not that we have lost freedom of speech, but freedom of opinion.
The true hate comes when ill is spoken and acted upon. If the former were true, we would all be arrested for our speech against the politicians that forget whom they serve.
Put regulation and controls back in place and decrease the amount of immigrants allowed into this country. My grandparents were immigrants who came into Ellis Island and worked hard and honestly in the system for their place here.
As for my son, I do not know what the future may hold. But it looks bleak.