The people next door

             If you have a bad neighbor, then what are you to do? I suppose you could talk to them. That would be novel in this day and age.  The police said to leave them alone because there was nothing you can do. They don’t really break the law. It’s more about their not like the rest of us. Is your community supposed to be uniformed? Should you look, smell, and act like everyone else? Maybe the solution is moving?

            I’d like to say that I’m at a loss for words but that will never happen. I have plenty to say about the neighbors. Still, we have never once just talked to them. Instead we hear the parties, fights, and loud cars. They are not like the rest of us. My experience tells me that a community looks a certain way. I deliver mail in different communities and each has its own flavor. One is friendly and another is closed. Some have nice yards and another looks disheveled.

            We talked to the city and they can do nothing because bylaw officers can’t enforce the fact we don’t like them. This whole idea of community fascinates me. I have a friend who says the cop living next door is the worst. I guess if it was a problem for the official living next door then things would be different. Still, here we stand living next to the renters from hell with seemingly no answer.

            The Christian answer is not a nice one by human standards. We are asked to be nice to our neighbors. Did Jesus bake cookies for the religious leaders? Did he invite them into his home for dinner? I do think there is a struggle between right and wrong. There is seemingly a tussle between being annoyed and being nice. Who wants to be nice when your annoyed. If were not like them then what is a self-righteous person to do?

            What does God have to say about bad communities. There are several spots in the Bible where the Israelite's are trying to enter the promised land. The trouble is that the people living there are not like them. How can a new neighbor just tell the old one to leave? Sounds familiar? The problem as God saw it was morals, beliefs, and way of life. God wanted his nation to live a certain way in the land. The neighbors lived a different way.

            The Israelite's tried to take the land two different ways. One is to mix with the neighbors. That seems like the Christian thing to do, but God is left out if you marry into different beliefs. The other is war. That certainly seems non-Christian. Just move in and kill the community. It seems to me that a community needs to think alike or trouble will follow. I guess living with others is complicated or should it be. History seems to show that community is always a mixed bag.

            Around the world we are seeing community being played out. In France they tried to open the door to different cultures. The city of love tried to love. In the end, France moved the Immigrants outside the city. There is now a dangerous hate relationship. Germany, British, and others are struggling with the same thing. Different religions and ideologies apparently don’t mix. Maybe it’s foreign policy. Is there more to living with the neighbors around the world. We can visit but don’t move in next to me.

            Years ago there was a TV show called The Beverly hillbillies. A back country family struck oil in the hills. They decided to move to Beverly hills because they had money now. The problem was that they were not like everyone else. I used to own a house until my divorce. I then became an owner in a trailer park. Years later I built a home in a new community. I know the trailer park boys. Yet, I don’t live with them anymore.

            As of today one neighbor appears like trailer trash in our shiny new neighborhood. Our so called rich community has some hillbillies. The trouble is my heart. I want to be nice. I want to spread the love of Jesus. Yet, they don’t play ball like we do. There is an “us and them” mentality. In history, there always has been trouble in communities. We have trouble in the community. Whose fault is it? We should never call them trailer trash. I hate that. Still, I equally hate the neighbor’s way about them. The free roaming animals, parties, and several cars irritate us all. In a way I need a heart and they need to leave. What do you think?

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