There goes the neighborhood!

A summer potluck was one of the many charming aspects of the neighborhood where I live.

(From an email a few years ago)

Was.

We did not have one in the summer of 2016.
Nothing in the summer of 2017.
And there are no plans afoot for a gathering in the summer of 2018 either.

You know why!

Last summer, a neighbor realized that I was no longer her friend on Facebook--this was back when I was active there.  She thought it was recent; little did she know that I had unfriended her well into the campaign season in 2016.

She asked me whether she and/or her husband offended me in any way.

I calmly explained to her that trump's election has changed everything.  "It is not about Republican politics," I reminded her.  After all, in the neighborhood we have always had hardcore Republicans and Democrats.  "trump is different," I remember telling her.

She attempted to defend the candidate that she loudly and vocally supported from the time he launched his candidacy.  "Give him some time," she said.

"I don't want us to debate about him."  I forced myself to be polite.

A couple of days ago, I was sweeping the sidewalk by my home.  Two older neighbors stopped by with the typical American humor.  "You have some great strokes with the broom," one joked. 

And then we talked serious stuff too.  "When Obama was the president, many of our neighbors constantly complained about Obama this, and Obama that.  Now, you don't see or hear anybody publicly complaining about trump, right?  People are afraid.  It is like Germany in the 1930s," the white neighbor complained.

I don't see any summer potluck possible as long as he is in the White House.  And then it will take years to bridge the divide between neighbors.  Meanwhile, older neighbors will die, and others will move away.  We will barely have anybody with any memory of the summer potluck gatherings that we once used to have.

I am not sure how we will overcome all these.