lonely nation
Sep. 8th, 2002 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serenissima[re-posted from DiaryLand]
Forgot to pick up a newspaper today, so no classifieds. I finished reupholstering the first of a set of four chairs, reassembled it, and disassembled the second, but I decided not to continue because my fingertips are sore. I'm not sure what they've been rubbing against... maybe the staple gun, somehow?
Yesterday I went with my parents to a party at my dad's boss's house. We met a young woman from Romania who works in his department. Someone asked her whether she planned on staying in the U.S. permanently -- she has been in the States for over three years so far. She commented on the "individualist" American culture: that people can't just drop in on other people unannounced, you have to make an appointment first, and that people, although friendly, will only let you in so far.
The latter idea is something that I recognize in myself, but it hadn't occurred to me that it may be not just me, it may be symptomatic of the culture I live in. I'm extremely reluctant to reveal what I'm really feeling. Even this diary is has been a record more of what I've been doing than of my thoughts. I seem to be not too bad at making small talk, though it's never been one of my strong points and I could still use more practice. But I don't tend to unburden my heart to even my closest friends. Is this true for most people? If so, we must be a very lonely nation.
I think it would be nice, too, if people would visit other people unannounced. It could get annoying at times, but I think people would get to know each other better. Of my immediate neighbors, I only really know the older couple across the street. I hardly know the people living in the houses on either side of mine. And while I was in an apartment I didn't know my neighbors at all.
Forgot to pick up a newspaper today, so no classifieds. I finished reupholstering the first of a set of four chairs, reassembled it, and disassembled the second, but I decided not to continue because my fingertips are sore. I'm not sure what they've been rubbing against... maybe the staple gun, somehow?
Yesterday I went with my parents to a party at my dad's boss's house. We met a young woman from Romania who works in his department. Someone asked her whether she planned on staying in the U.S. permanently -- she has been in the States for over three years so far. She commented on the "individualist" American culture: that people can't just drop in on other people unannounced, you have to make an appointment first, and that people, although friendly, will only let you in so far.
The latter idea is something that I recognize in myself, but it hadn't occurred to me that it may be not just me, it may be symptomatic of the culture I live in. I'm extremely reluctant to reveal what I'm really feeling. Even this diary is has been a record more of what I've been doing than of my thoughts. I seem to be not too bad at making small talk, though it's never been one of my strong points and I could still use more practice. But I don't tend to unburden my heart to even my closest friends. Is this true for most people? If so, we must be a very lonely nation.
I think it would be nice, too, if people would visit other people unannounced. It could get annoying at times, but I think people would get to know each other better. Of my immediate neighbors, I only really know the older couple across the street. I hardly know the people living in the houses on either side of mine. And while I was in an apartment I didn't know my neighbors at all.