Just Dropping By Is Never The Best Answer
December 15th, 2007 by Patrick
A while back a couple who are friends of my wife moved into a house a couple of blocks away from us. They’re upstanding salt-of-the-earth type folks, with a dog and a toddler and a safe sensible car to keep the whole family package safe in inclement weather. Anyone would be happy to have them as neighbours.
The only problem is that proximity has lent itself to uninvited visits. Before now, I’d always assumed that the “drop-by” was a television myth invented to get the nagging mom or wacky neighbour into the scene. but it turns out that it can happen in real life too. This baffles me, since we live in the Communications Age. I have 6 email addresses, 4 phone numbers, and a website where everyone is invited to leave comments or suggest social engagements. You can reach me on Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn or Plaxo (well maybe not Plaxo - I’m signed up but I’ m really not sure what it does.) You can text me on my cel phone or email me on my Blackberry. You can lean out your window and holler. Whatever you choose to do, I will graciously respond and we can meet at a mutually convenient time and location, like some other day at at your house.
What you don’t have to do is turn up at my door on a snowy Saturday with a soaking, semi-hysterical dog, a bored two-year-old and a broad grin when I’m just about to begin my late-morning nap. And it’s not you, you’re delightful people. It’s me. I just have no desire for company and conversation, not if Brad and Angelina came over to discuss green architecture and the pitfalls of fame, not if Stephen Hawking and Billy Graham showed up looking to debate the origins of the universe . If we wanted anyone here they’d have heard from us. The information age has given us tools to communicate with, people - let’s use them.