In our modern world, we have many gadgets that instantly connect us with people half way around the globe. And yet, we have so little connection with the people right in front of, or right next door to us. A sense of connection in communities is something we seem to be missing more and more.

I have been seeing an amazing change happen during this financial crisis. People are being nicer to neighbors. I am seeing more smiles in the market, at the post office, on the street. As the financial stain grows, our sense of community seems to be growing, also. I am hearing  more conversations and more laughter between neighbors.

Sometimes it takes a disaster to bring us together. I know from personal experience that we feel closer to out neighbors when we share an experience like an earthquake or a hurricane. We talk to people we never thought we would talk to before. We even run to their houses to check on them. Disaster erases the lines between us and them.

I will be hand making my Christmas presents this year. I will be doing it at the local ceramics studio, along with other women from the area who are feeling the pinch.

We are all in this together.