“[…] a neighborhood of wide lawns and narrow minds.” –Ernest Hemingway

Privacy equals isolation. Withdrawal within the walls. Concrete and gates closed against any likely or unlikely invasion. Thus people, neighborhood, community and society became undesirable. We replace nature with lawns. We abandon timeless values greedily; social and economic mobility, critical thinking, human measure, community-building are neglected in favour of nouveau-riche mansions, split-level houses, fortresses and walls. We close ourselves inside so as not to see or be seen; to secure our wealth but also to hide the bareness of our soul and spirit. We abandon the communal; we stop being citizens. We separate ourselves from the Others, the dirty ones, the strangers. No one is to disturb our peace. Yet in this enclosed world each one is solitary, the illegal rules, we are paranoid and permanently threatened. And when the faucet of luxury shuts down, we are left alone, destitute as always.