The Neighborhood

It takes a village.

I agree.

So what do you do when your village starts to crumble around you? What do you do when the people you live next door to turn on you and become the enemy?

We live in a relatively quiet suburban neighborhood. Most of the people on our street either have young children or have been here long enough to have raised their children into adulthood. They understand. The kids play outside in the front yards. The dogs get walked up and down the street. We might not know each other well, but there are waves and nods.

Families have come and gone, but for the most part it’s been a peaceful neighborhood. Yet… even in this peaceful neighborhood there are some neighbors who just have to disturb the normal ebb and flow we have going on.

Yes, I’m talking about one particular neighbor. They have no idea I blog. If they did… I wouldn’t really care.

We’ve had some trouble lately with these neighbors. They like to complain. Not just about us, about other neighbors as well. The problem is they complain big and they complain loud.

They won’t talk to us, despite my husband’s trying to engage them.

They won’t look at my kids.

They don’t wave hello or goodbye.

They ignore us as if we are ghosts.

You would think those of us living in such close proximity could at least voice our issues with each other. What could have easily been discussed with a small conversation should not need to be escalated to having other officials involved.

I find that I now have to defend myself for no reason.

We are guilty as long as someone we don’t even know personally says we are. We have no defense since a complaint is a complaint and nobody cares whether it is true or not. How is it possible that in the United States of America, in a little city called Santa Clarita, that anybody can make up a story about their neighbor and have it be an indisputable fact? Do I get to tell my side of the story? Is there no room for fairness?

Apparently not.

I worry for a society where one person’s word is taken over another’s. But this is what it has come to.

Just because you may not “like” someone… or like their children… or like their pets… doesn’t give you a reason to cause trouble for them. We have lived here in the same house, on the same street, for 13 years. They have lived here less than 2 years.

Our street is alive with kids and dogs and motorcycles and gardeners and noise. It’s a family street. If you don’t like the sounds of the neighborhood, maybe you should not live in the neighborhood.