Where has friendliness gone?

I am going to avoid starting this out with "back in my day or back when I was little" by asking, have you ever listened to the stories that your parents or grandparents told when they said how friendly everyone was? Walking down the street in "small town USA", everyone would greet each other, smile, say "good morning" or the men would at least tip their hat to the ladies? Where has that all gone? Are we so cynical that we cannot even smile at a stranger and at least say hello? Have we become so scared of speaking to a possible psycho killer, rapist, kidnapper or just all around bad guy that we cast our eyes to the ground or in another direction when someone walks past? When I mention this situation I am usually met with the comment of "well times have changed." No they haven't. Do you really believe that the bad guy just evolved in the past 20 years? Oh give me a break. They have been around since, oh lets see....if you believe in Adam and Eve, they were around then. If you believe in evolution, duh, they were around then. Their names have changed, the way they inflict harm has changed and due to the type of media and communication we have now, the ways to find them and account for their actions has changed. But why should that affect how we are to each other? Every morning when I walk the three blocks to the studio, I smile and greet everyone I pass. I started doing this to see how many people would acknowledge my greeting with at least a smile. I also noticed that it made me feel good to smile and speak. But not everyone feels that way. I have seen people look away instead of having to smile at me (Dude...I am not too repulsive to look at, well at least I don't make little children scream in terror, so there is no reason to look away.) This morning I walked past 15 people in that three blocks...guess how many smiled back? TWO!! Can you believe it? TWO?! One was a sheriff deputy and he seemed a little grumpy but forced his smile. Guess he didn't have his morning donut. Just kidding! If we become more involved in our community, our neighbors, and people we walk past every morning, we can make this a safer place. Now I am not saying to stalk your neighbor but at least try to watch out for each other and be there if someone needs help. The stalking thing just reminded me of a magnet on a coworkers locker....."When did we start calling secret admirers stalkers?" Oh well. Ok I am done with my rantings for the morning....until I find something else to stir up the soap box.