Commentary: Don’t buy me tinted windows or headphones for Christmas!

Christmas should bring out the best in us, right?

Now that I have more time around the house as a “consultant,” I have found time to walk the ‘hood. It’s a 2-mile walk to impress my cardiologist.

But it’s not the pulmonary pumping that has my heart rate up; it’s the people whom I encounter.

Starting my route down the street I attempt to engage my neighbors.

First a float wave, then a “hello.”

I fall short. It’s not working. There is no eye contact, actually no eyes.

My vain greeting is for not because I can’t see the person in the car; they’re hidden behind a pitch-black piece of glass. Not only is it illegal to tint the three most-forward windows in your car, it creates a culture of isolation.

I wave, but I don’t know who the driver is, and I certainly don’t know if they saw me and whether they waved back.

People seem to have a desire to create barriers. Even where we live, people tend to want to just live behind their four walls. Once considered the core of American values, neighborhoods are now a collection of individual houses all living in their own worlds.

As I continued my walk, this cultural drift was reiterated by the people whom I encountered. Of the nine fellow walkers, I passed only four who acknowledged my salutation. The rest were without reaction, headphones placing them in another world.

As much as the handheld device has transformed our ability to access information, it has closed the door on human relationships. This erosion of interaction could become a national security issue.

Witness the ongoing investigation in the San Bernardino tragedy, where neighbors not only observed suspicious and odd activity, but did not want to get involved.

“None of my business, not my concern.”

If we retreat into our own world and dismiss the need to interact, caring only for what matters to us, we may soon have little left to care about. Political correctness and not getting involved are contrary to the concept of the American community. Time to close down the street, open our doors and have a block party!

No tinted windows or headphones allowed!

BILL DUNLAP lives in Newport Beach.