How do I know? Because I see it everyday. I live it. I aide it.
Think about it, think of all the things we have that can cause us to disconnect all the time:
iPods and MP3 players
Computers
Video games
TVs and DVDs
Personal DVD players
Now, these things are not always counteractive to community. A movie night with my best friend can be a great thing. The internet used to connect, meet people, and stay in contact can be a great thing. Music is beautiful and can be a common bond. None of these are inherently wrong but they can be and often times we let them.
For example, a common scene in my parents house is two or three people gathered in the same room, TV on, at least one laptop out, and hardly any talking. There is no community, no sharing, no living life with each other- it is just living life in the same room.
I know community is a beautiful and gut wrenching hard thing all at the same time. I have an apartment 800 miles from the home I am sitting in right now. In that artsy, cold, apartment I live in community with someone who could only be considered an acquaintance, at best, just 5 months ago. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it because there is nowhere to hide. But it is right and it is good. We do not spend all our time sitting and talking or discussing life. We watch Planet Earth and do homework; we watch movies and read books; but, at the end of the day we live in community. We have a TV and computers; we watch DVDs and listen to lots of music; but, we don't let those things enslave us or break our community... most of the time.
What do we do? We make an effort to break the chains that bind us and keep us from building relationships. Or at least we put forth the effort and try. Trying doesn't hurt.
We exist in a society against community but we don't have to live in it.
