NIU is a school with more than 25,000 students, a percentage of whom you might see in classes, hallways, elevators and plenty of other places. You are one in a sea of people.

Unfortunately, this is a trend that will only worsen over time, especially if you move to a major metropolitan area. In the modern world of cell phones, commuter rush hour, and garage-door openers, one could conceivably wake up, grab to-go coffee, drive to work, order products via E-vendors and fall asleep in front of a television, not interacting with a single person beyond “Thank you, please drive through.”

What used to be a concept defined as “community” is slowly fading into a meaningless existential reality where humans have no need to meaningfully coexist. Our culture is in the process of dissolution, as thousands of students already fit into their future commuter roles as they pass people every day who could be possible acquaintances or friends, but remain strangers due to the lack of a need to know them.

Is this simply American culture? Murals on buildings in Iran display American flags, but really show anger toward what Rutgers political scientist Benjamin Barber called in 1992 “McWorld,” the homogenous supra-culture of McDonald’s and Britney Spears that threatens to encroach upon traditionalist societies of the developing world.

Yet as other political analysts point out, “McWorld” is not purely an American dynamic, but indicative of globalization and the culture of corporations and the consumerism we are subscribing to more and more.

This can be seen on a global scale. New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman pointed out in 2000, globalization changes the world from a venue where countries compete into an arena where every individual now competes against unidentified economic threats from anyone with a Web site. Rather than teaching people how to work together, this forces everyone to constantly look over their shoulder.

This competition makes consumerism a natural conclusion. This is the same spirit that now inhabits American society, where multitudes of factions and individuals demonstrate a survivalist tenacity, and the quest for the most unique style or the brightest bling establishes a new society fractured into a chaotic disunity, where it becomes impossible to connect with neighbors who constantly aim for superior music, hairstyle or shoes.

Instead, the people who fail to fit in with consumerist habits are the ones we should imitate. These are the people who will remember your name, not your hand bag. They will remember what you tell them about your family, not what you tell them about the next sale. They will help you when you fall, not point and laugh behind your back. They wish for things to go well for you, rather than attempt to out-pace you.

Someday when you get home from your commuter job, these are the ones who will come to your door and be your friends, after your customer service agent or chat room partner leaves you empty and alone.

You can do something today; talk to someone new and diverse and get to know them. Before the world becomes numb to the concept of community, try to reinvigorate the world on the local level, one person at a time.