Towns

I've had a couple recent experiences with people that have been more than a little discouraging.  I am not certain why there is such a pervasive attitude here that destroys community and makes people so self serving as to encourage the frequency of accusations and blame but it is more than common.  People can build a town to be a destination place for others to come but without sharing and goodwill there isn't community.  My uncle creates community in his own little social group but as a whole there is little community in this town.  Unless, of course, there is a big snowstorm.  But even then there seem to be more people willing to profit than to be neighborly and help each other out. 

I wonder if this is commonplace in our American society today or if it is somewhat unique to small towns.  As I read the newspaper from my hometown I get the feeling that the same attitudes are present there.  It is a much bigger town than this one but still there is a cutthroat mentality when it comes to profiting from others that, to me, destroys the ideal of working together for the benefit of all. 

If you don't know me well you may not realize that I am a big movie buff.  I love movies.  I devour the context of movies and the way they exemplify what we value in our society.  There have been a couple movies that have demonstrated the ideal of community, in so far as they show a group of people working together for the common good and safety of their community.  Can there be such places in real life?  I wonder.  I wonder if our economy promotes the disintegration of group effort and leans to the benefit of self at others' epense.  Shouldn't it be possible to work together in large groups as easily as it is in small groups?  I will look for these towns that show community and maybe I will find a new place to settle where people support each other rather than take from each other.  Perhaps this journey will take a long time, but wouldn't it be worth it to find a home where even the neighbor you do not know is willing to help rather than take from you?