And You Wonder Why?

And you wonder why?

By Dexx2G

What makes a neighborhood a nice neighborhood?   You ever drive through some neighborhoods and just imagine how nice it would be if you lived there.  No garbage in the street, no loud music being played all hours of the night.  No police and ambulance sirens going off all the time, your neighbors looking out for you and you looking out for them.  Well that is what makes a nice neighborhood.  Not big houses and huge lawns or gated in communities.  It’s the people that live next to you.  It’s the pride that they take in the area that they live in and how they interact with their fellow neighbor.

I live in a fairly decent neighborhood, a lot better than where I grew up at (Southside Jamaica Queens / Bedstuy Brooklyn).   It’s a bit pricey, but hey they say you get what you pay for.  Sometimes that’s not the case, but I digress.  Last week we had a little bit of snow hit the area and it kind of slowed things down.  I got up the next morning to about 10” of snow (not the storm of the century).  I woke up early and went outside to clear the snow off of my cars.  I shoveled snow for about two hours.  I made sure not to throw any snow in the parking spot next to mine out of common courtesy.  One of my neighbors came out while I was clearing out my spaces and started his car.  He didn’t have a shovel, so I offered to shovel some of the snow out from behind his car so that he could get out of his spot.  He accepted the help and once the deed was done he rolled out.  No “thank you”, No” good looking out”, nothing.  No big deal, my good deeds are for my soul not for accolades.  So now I completely clear any sign of snow from on and around both cars and parking spaces.  The grown ass man parked next to me driving an Excursion, came outside and seemed upset that I didn’t shovel his spot out too.  So he dusted his truck off and then sat in it while it warmed up.  As he’s just sitting in his truck I look over and there are several females in the neighborhood shoveling out their spot.  His girlfriend (speculating) comes outside and starts to argue with him about him not clearing at least her side of the truck of snow so she could get in.  He brushes her off, there’s a loud albeit quick exchange of words and then they pull off.  Later on that day I return home to my parking spot which amazingly enough was left for me but as I look over into my wife’s parking spot, low and behold it’s the Excursion.  This lazy bastard pulled right into a spot that he did not work for.  He didn’t come out later and do the right thing and shovel out a spot, he went right inside and sat on his lazy ass.  That is the worst kind of neighbor.  He wasn’t elderly, he wasn’t handicapped, and he didn’t have anything limiting him from being able to do the task.  Now my first instinct was to confront him and check him for this misdeed but I like my neighborhood and sometimes the ignorant can penetrate the nicest of neighborhoods.  If I was to approach him his response would have been derogatory and I would have responded in kind.  This would have led to an argument then to a fight.  It’s not fair to my other neighbors (the one’s that actually are decent and upstanding) so I let it go.  I walked away from it; you cannot allow yourself to be sucked in by the ignorance of others.  My wife came home and I gave her my spot, and I dug out another spot for myself.  That guy will one day need the kindness of a neighbor and I hope I am there to reject him with a middle finger.

I was speaking with a friend of mine at work and she told me she didn’t like living in a predominantly black neighborhood (She’s Black).  Her reasoning was because they’re loud, disrespectful and always around loitering.  In all fairness it’s not because they are black, I think it’s because they are unemployed.  When looking for a new place, I check the parking.  If the parking lot is still full at 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning on a weekday, then chances are you’re in a bad neighborhood.  These people are still home, not at work.  If you can hear Gucci and Roscoe dash banging through the walls of a residence and there’s no party going on, chances are you’re in a bad neighborhood.  If you park your car and your car is the only one without a wheel lock and two stage alarm, you’re probably in a bad neighborhood.  Baltimore City highlights these neighborhoods with blue lights and most of the time you can just tell by the businesses surrounding the neighborhood.  If there is more than one liquor store in less than a square half of mile then chances are you’re in a bad neighborhood.  If your local chinese restaurant has no seats and bulletproof glass over the counter then you’re in a bad neighborhood.  If there is any form of gym equipment i.e. weight bench or treadmills outside of the house, figure it out.

pic by: http://neighborwindow.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/bad-neighbors.jpg