I keeps seeing so much evidence that in the US at least, we have so few social/communal institutions in our lives that leave each of us working so hard to figur

I keeps seeing so much evidence that in the US at least, we have so few social/communal institutions in our lives that leave each of us working so hard to figure out how to live a life. While the last century is filled with examples of how institutions have failed us, I think we have lost a lot in terms of community living. How many in-perosn, built-in friendships and relationships do any of us have outside of the college experience, or for those of us with kids the child-rearing institutions where we can mingle with other parents? We can obviously "join a club" or whatever, but there is so little by default, so we are all trying to figure it out anew. This isn't to blame anyone in particular, but I grieve how much isolation feels built into our daily lives.