A Little White Picket Fence: the curse of the American Dream

In the 'good old days' of the 1950s, it was every American's dream to have a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence, a car in the driveway and a tv in the living room. Now that almost all US citizens have reached this dream, we may be starting to realize it isn't really what we expected.

People used to flock to the city from the country because cities were the vibrant centers of trade and life. Now people have mostly flocked from the cities to the suburbs, every family living in their own little fenced off island of idyllicness. What has this gotten us? Certainly privacy, but more then we bargained for.  There are very few neighborhoods that feel very neighborly any more. We have lost our public gathering spaces - there are few if any local parks, local shops, local bars or restaurants. We must drive to all of these things, amidst a sea of sprawling strip malls and highway overpasses. Most people aren't close enough to any of the amenities they use, and even if they were would probably drive anyway. Who wants to walk along congested 4 lane roads and wait at crosswalks for ages before the light changes? All of this driving around in a concrete jungle has dissolved any sense of community towns may have once had. Instead we have the 'soccer mom,' identifiable by their large vehicles used to ferry kids, groceries and sporting equipment in constant circles around town.

If you work 35 years of your life and have a one hour commute each way every day to and from work, you will spend 2 years in a car - 728 entire days of your life, sitting in traffic. How did we decide this was a good trade off for having a white picket fence?

Instead, you should find a community in which you can truly live. It can be a city or a small town, but a place where the number of businesses, shops, and restaurants actually cover a greater surface area then the parking lots serving them. If you were close enough to walk to work, the store, school, or the local hangout, there might actually BE a local hangout where people from the community could actually go and recognize their friends. It even might be a local restaurant, not a nationwide jumbo chain. Just think, no more traffic jams, no more finding parking spaces, no more $40 at the pump ever few days. That is what efficiency is really all about.  More efficient living can  save a lot energy through reduced driving miles, but efficient living also leaves a lot more time and space for, well, living.