You & your neighbours

U mean like Oliver Cromwell, whose body was exhumed and hanged ?

Although these people seem to feel a bit antagonistic toward us, they do not directly aim their actions this way. They have been there long enough that I feel they will not cross the line so long as I continue to pretend to ignore them. Any such action, I believe, would be inadvertent.

I give Punky an eyedropper of H3O daily.

Ill take a shot at the explanation msolga.

First, I was interested in Dave's accounts of the 9/11 connection within his neighborhood . It is, If I may use a small lit reference, like the "Bridges at Toko Ri" where everyones life comes together in the presence of a bridge thats being bombed by Allies.
So many people had so much to bear on the 9/11 and I havent ,purposely, read any of them for the memories they would stir. Perhaps its time to start searching some out since I have several colleagues and friends who had never been heard of after the date and one expecially, who was a former director of marketing for me. He left my employ and was involved in Federal Marketing for a large consulting company. His office was way up in Tower 1.


DAVE--The "forgiveness" I spoke of was demonstrated by the Amish community near Georgetown and espcially the families who were located near the little cross-roads community of Nickle Mines ( a Name that goes back to the mid 1800's when a nickle mining and smelting operation was operating in a ridge area near the town).
When the pwerp destroyed those kids lives and then killed himself, the Lancaster Newspapers went on a "hunt" for his family as his alleged supporters. The AMISH, immediately after the Lanc Newspaper negan the 'investigative reporting" about the killers background and his family life, (remember they still hadnt even buried the dead children yet), descended upon the family of the killer.(They lived in Geoirgtown in a mobile home.) They brought food and comfort to the wife and children , who, for no reasons of their own, were made pariahs in the community. ASO the AMish taught an important lesson about how forgiveness isnt a passive virtue, it requires some work and involvement in helping those who stand and watch (an judge). The entire country side suddenly began experiencing a humongous outpouring of love from the AMish community. The Amish farmers would take food and drinks to the full time police guards who were emplaced at strategic road crossings (The area had been turned into a sort of grizzly "Disneyesque" tourist attraction) People from many states began wandering about and bothering the locals. Newspapers and TV descended with sat trucks and vans. The area was a madhouse.
THe Maish, spent most of their time trying to help the families immediately affected (several of the dead girls were of a single family). The Amish embraced the family of the killer with such love and kindness that the lesson could not be missed. Thoise of us who merely live in the immediate area were then caught up in delivering the wishes of the AMish community and , when the notoriety died down within two weeks. Several Amish bishops came and visited the "English"and xplained how they were going to treat this event . (As I said before, it was a teachable moment in time)
Ive never been one who was very patient with AMish and their slow-lane lives. However, I am trying to learn, and its all because of this event. Its been almost 4 years and the experience has scabbed over pretty much. We till see the families of the dead girls and their other children. We are now , perhaps, a little more attentive with all the kids. Most of us have opened our farms as sort of kid "Pathways" so the kids dont have to walk over the busy back country roads.

We , of the ENglish community, have tried to learn from the Amish.However , I still think that we keep too much of lookouts eye for anyone who acts a little strangely or drives around much too slowly. We still are afflicted by the communication culture and its daily demands of universal suspicion . The AMish have done a much better job at dealing with it than we(the "English").

Thank you, farmer.
Now I'm even more impressed than I was before. Didn't that that was possible.

I see; I had not known that the killer 's family had been identified,
nor that thay existed, nor that thay had become pariahs in their own community.
That is clearly irrational, unless facts had been discovered
revealing a broad conspiracy. It is clear that the perp. had just lost
his mind. Then again, the relatives of Cho of Virginia Tech. said that
thay were ashamed even back in Korea.

My cousin, Tommy, is now in his 50s; when he was a teenager,
unbeknownst to me, he was involved with his friends in a burglary.
I refuse to accept any blame for the crime.
I am certain that my cousin, his mom, was in no way complicit.

Anyway, u have clearly described it as an irrational attribution
of pariahship by the English community against its own.

That explains its meaning; thank u.



David

This is a really nice thread.

I've felt very much of my community for a while -- it's a very friendly, welcoming place where people tend to stay for a good long time. My street is full of big trees and 1900-1920's houses that have been tended well but aren't really ostentatious. Maybe an addition here and there, but overall pretty much look like they always have.

Kids are the glue in this community, my daughter knows pretty much every kid who is roughly her age (this may sound like an exaggeration but it's not) and then parents of the kids get to know each other either through scheduled playdates, scheduled kid-centered events, or just seeing each other all the time at school, at the pool, etc., etc. Dogs are major social avenues for people who have them, too -- I'm always seeing dog-walkers stopped talking to each other on the street -- but I don't have a dog.

Anyway, I just recently got to know a swath of my neighbors who don't have kids and so who I haven't really gotten to know, since we're all involved in a major operation to spay/neuter some feral cats. A neighbor across the street from me that nobody really talked to at all became the host of a family of feral cats, a mother and three kittens who lived under her porch. She gave them food and water and then when the weather got colder, had a kitty condo made for her front porch.

We (my next-door neighbor and I) tried to find homes for the kittens last summer when they appeared but no go. Now there is a whole new set of kittens.

So we're going to trap the lot of them and take them in to be spayed/ neutered and see how many we can find homes for. The host neighbor has gotten friendly with one kitten -- he lets her pick him up and hold him, etc. -- so we're hoping she will keep him. And she is very friendly by the way! Neighbors who have lived here for decades haven't talked to her and now they are.

At any rate, emails have been flying with strategizing and possibilities, for example one person has a shop and wants some mouser cats but not really pet cats, a couple of the strays would be perfect for that. Etc.

It's been a nice way to pull together and get to know more people in the area. Nice people.

Thats a relatively easy place to stand after 4 years, you hadda be there. Its not only "English" nature, Its an AMerican affectation tha we make believe that we get to the " pulpy root of the matter and excise it" . We live by media directionals and most people just go along.

I see that, after most tragedies, there is some kind of "P wave" of opinion , suspicion, and retribution. We, as a civilization, are quick to prejudge and assign all kinds of blame even before the facts are in. Im sorta glad that I live where I do. Weve been able to be shown by example that we ARE OUR BROTHERS KEEPERS.

Hi Olga and all! First time for me here.

A little about my neighbours.

First of all, I live in a 32 unit townhouse complex that is self-owned. The complex itself is situated in a cul-de-sac with one other townhouse complex on the same street. No age restrictions for either complex, so there are a fair number of kids.

The complex is made up of 6 rows of units. Our unit is an end unit on one of these rows and the closest one to the cul-de-sac, and to the entrance of the complex.

We moved here in November 1992, so we've been living here a fair while now.

We really only have one immediate neighbor (adjoining wall), which is to the left of ours (as you face the front). They're a family of mom and dad, with 4 kids.

The kids, all over 20 now (I believe) consist of 3 sons and 1 daughter. Dad is about 59/60, and mom is 15 years younger.

Three of the kids still live at home. The oldest moved away about 2 years ago, and good riddance!

Mom and dad have a summer cabin in the interior of the province (British Columbia), and mom spends from the end of June to the start of school in September, every year since they aquired it (about 6-7 years ago). Dad takes his 6 years of holidays and comes back home once a week for various reasons.

This has been a real sore point with my wife and I since they started doing this, as their kids (minus the daughter - she's okay) were in the habit of having many friends over and the alcohol and pot were plentiful.

It got better 2 years ago when the oldest son moved out, as I mentioned above. He was the worst offender. I once complained about all this in the first year, and some time afterwards, had the front of our unit and our car severely "egged". No mystery to me who did this.

Anyways, when the oldest moved out, the 2nd and 3rd oldest sons did have some nonsense go on, but nothing like before, so I guess I can say it has improved. I had made a complaint about the various partying that went on in the back yard, and that, for the most part, has now but completely stopped.

Sometimes we get the impression that the mother wants to spend no time with her kids at all, because at other times of the year, she is frequently out. Dad works nights, so those kids are left on their own a lot.

The youngest (the daughter) is fine. She never causes any trouble. The youngest son also likes to smoke pot, and frequently has friends over who like to do the same. I don't understand why mom and dad don't make the kid go out and get a job. I imagine him to be at least 21+ now. Way lenient!

Anyways, we don't speak much to these neighbors, but I try to say 'hello' when I bump into them. Keep somewhat on speaking terms, in case I have to make another complaint about the nonsense that goes on from time to time.

I'll be back another time and speak about other nearby neighbours.

I wonder if some Amish might be amenable to trading their farms to become Texas trailor trash. I would certainly welcome them here.

I dunno about that, Farmer; I 'm an American
and I don t have that affectation. Example??
I was shot at some years ago in an unsuccessful robbery attempt.
It woud not occur to me to bear ill will against the relatives of the criminals.


I am at a loss to think of an example. During Watergate, there was a
near lynch-mob frenzy of anti-Nixon hysteria whipped up by
the liberal press, which hated him fiercely; Nixon was Irish.
There was no manifested rancor nor retribution against the Irish.
Were thay suspected of something ??


The brothers don 't always wanna be kept. What then ?





David

Damn liberal press. Always whipping people to frenzies.

YEAH!

Damn liberal press. Always whipping people to frenzies.
Why can't they be calm and reasonable, like Sarah Palin, Rush and Fox news?

Great post, soz.
Yes, it's as much about community connections, for those of us who value community.
Excellent combined effort on the feral cat situation! The most positive neighbourhood response I've yet come across. Most, in my neighbourhood anyway, would be complaining to the "authorities" & waiting for them to do something about "the problem". Which usually would achieve zilch. As a "cat person", I applaud you all for your compassionate & very responsible actions.

Oh good!

And I'll be back later to give this post a better read, Reyn. (Running out of time here!)

Like I said, you hadda be there. It was a story that captured most of the state of PA for weeks. The newspapers and the TV stations were manipulating the people with all sorts of manufactured issues and "questions".
There was a great deal of anger and, probably more to the point, collective guilt. SO just as people wanted to slay all ARABS after 9/11, there was an immediate backlash against the folks at the trailer park where the killer and his family lived. The guy had real problems, He was a volunteer fireman and was(reportedly) wound a little too tightly according to several acquaintances .
I dont believe that logic plays any role in this entire matter, so try not to look for any.
Let it just be said that the entire community is somehow more unified and loving (with the exception of the masses of tourists who still journey to the site and take pictures of what is now essentially a small livestock pasture).

My across the street neighbors have been in the habit of burning fires daily. By the smell, it is obvious they often burn other than leaves. This evening, the fire department called on them, in one of their big red trucks. When the truck left, the fire was thoroughly doused. It is illegal to have outdoor fires after dark.

you sure they're not just cold, and smokin' pot, ed?

They live on the porch and by the fires, rock. They have a rolldown shade across the front of the porch and a blue tarp to block the wind at the end. The only time they go in the house is if it freezes or rains. What they smoke and otherwise indulge, I can't see from here.