I just read a blog from Amy Sue Nathan about the 10 Joys of an Empty Nest. With
some interest and reflection, I noticed that she said that it was the first
time she’d ever lived alone. Interesting…not
exactly a new phenomenon since the number of individuals in the USA living in
single home dwellings is now at 9% of total households and as high as 40% in
big cities such as Manhattan and San Francisco.
I have reflected on this since working to coordinate student
rural rotations for social work and medical students. A significant number of students surprised me
at their unease in “living alone” in rural areas. We had a great house for students…certainly
not isolated in my thinking. I love the rural life. I love living on a back road, isolated among
the trees. The night skies and the stars
without the glare or noise from the streets are as soothing for me as a soapy
warm bath. To my utter astonishment, even though I had cable TV, four land-line
phones in the house and I always scheduled at least two students in the house at
a time, the fact that they couldn’t get a cell phone connection completely
undid them. That, on top of the dark,
the lack of street noise, and what they perceived as a significant distance
from the next dwelling had many of them driving a daily four hour commute to
the city instead of staying overnight during their month rotation.
Our program didn’t do a lot to encourage more medical
doctors to set up shop in rural locations.
There are, of course, countless other reasons that contribute to that
problem, but I was struck by the number of young people who not only seemed
uncomfortable, but actually scared of the silence. Have noise, activity and having our social network
connected to our hip now become so much a part of our DNA, that we go into
withdrawal without them or do I just come from another time? I wonder.
