Where's the Village?

I recently heard the story of one of the first presidents to send aid to a part of our country when a disaster occurred. I don't remember the president, and I never heard what the disaster was. The account, however, went something like this. The president sent federal help to the residents of an area that had suffered a disaster. When the aid arrived, the residents asked, "Who are you and why are you here?" They told them, "We're from the government and we're here to help." They said, "We're taking care of this. Go away." That was classic American independence.

I was walking around my neighborhood the other evening and was struck by the absence of people. It used to be different in my youth. It used to be that neighbors knew neighbors. It used to be that neighbors took care of neighbors. If Mrs. Boniface was in the hospital having a baby, Mr. Boniface would be given a week's worth of casseroles and other foodstuffs to tide the family over until she came home. If Farmer Brown needed a new barn, the neighbors from all around would join together and have a barn-raising. Neighbors knew neighbors. Neighbors took care of neighbors. Federal relief wasn't nearly as important back then because, well, we all took care of each other.

As I was walking around, I found myself wondering what happened. This isn't a complaint; it's a question. I'm not longing for the good ol' days; I'm wondering what happened to those people. It really wasn't that long ago. In my in-laws' neighborhood, they still know each other, still have block parties, still take care of each other. What became of that kind of thinking? What changed in my lifetime that turned everyone to their own self-interest to the exclusion of others' interests?

Before the Welfare State, it was the people of this country that took care of their own. Families took care of families. If you didn't have families, there were friends. If you didn't have friends, the most common source of assistance was the church. Either churches themselves, or church-based organizations took in the homeless, the unemployed, the needy and cared for them. That, of course, was before it switched from a moral obligation to a legal obligation. At some point someone decided that it was mandatory to be helpful, and you would be paying more taxes to do it. Some might argue that this is fine. But there is a fundamental difference between the moral obligation and the legal obligation. Those driven by moral obligations do so from the heart -- a matter of choice. So at some point the care of the less fortunate shifted from the backs of people with morals to the cold, dead carcass of legal obligation. That, they argued, was a positive shift.

I know. It sounds Like I'm complaining. Maybe I am, to some small degree. But I'm really asking. What happened? What changed in the last 50 years? What is it that cut off neighbors from neighbors, families from families, friends from friends? When did we become this self-centered society that expects the government to care for us rather than caring for each other? I'm quite sure this isn't a good change.