I know that I don’t pay attention to the comings and goings of the 20 people on my floor. Someone could easily die in their apartment and I’d never know as long as the stench wasn’t too bad.

When I first lived in an apartment in Forest Hills with my wife we knew most of the people on the floor. When we moved to an apartment in Woodbury we only knew the gay couple that lived on another floor in our unit. Later still we moved to a condo and there we knew everyone around us, but gradually people began to withdraw into themselves. This was in the 1980’s. Finally, we moved to a single family neighborhood and no one even speaks with anyone else. The only fellow I ever spoke to lived next door and he was bought out. Now there is no one to speak with. Neighbor just don’t seem to care in many places. Or, perhaps it is a function of age.

We had a neighbor in that condo area who I was friendly with and one day he didn’t meet me for lunch. When I suggested to another neighbor that there might be some problem, he said, “Nah, leave it alone.” A day later the police broke in and found him dead under a barbell he had been lifting in the basement.