Monday Musings...
When it comes to living on the SOUTH side of Fort Wayne, one must always take into consideration that a vast majority of those around you will probably NOT be of the same mindset when it comes to simple things like POLITENESS, CIVILITY, RESPECT, MORALITY, ETHICS, and INTEGRITY. In other words, it's almost like living in WASHINGTON, D.C.
And I mean that in the MOST political manner possible.
Calling things a "struggle" down here is being nice about it.
And if it is ONE thing above all else, it IS a CHALLENGE.
It's a challenge to one's ability to ignore most of what happens.
It's a challenge to one's sanity on a daily basis.
It's a challenge regarding SELF-RESTRAINT.
It's a challenge to REMAIN civilized, when others about you act like animals. For it's been said it's MUCH easier for a civilized person to devolve into an animal, than for an animal to evolve into a civilized man...given the confines of a brief time, such as a year, or even a decade.
And if there is one thing that defines our civility, placing us ABOVE the "lower life forms", it's the fact that we CHOOSE to not act the animal...not today, or perhaps not even tomorrow.
We may so want to go out and just rid the earth of the local scum...but we choose to NOT feed the (often) insatiable appetite of our "mindless primitive" (the ID) which resides in every one of us. Others seem to have problems wrapping their primate brains around such concepts.
That would be a LOT of the people that, for lack of a more descriptive term, we'll call "my neighbors".
I mentioned a LONG time ago, that we used to live at Willow Creek Crossing (for about a year). Now I quaintly call the place Willow CRACK Crossing, because of some of the sh*t I saw go one there...AND the fact that we were burglarized one fine day in June (same week my Mother passed away...talk about a fun-filled 168 hours).
When we lived there back in 1997, I thought it was barely passable as a "nice" place. Sure, it LOOKED fine enough, but, as we ALL know...looks CAN be deceiving. And they most certainly were.
Along with our break-in (complete with feces-smeared carpets), which over $500 of things were "removed" involuntarily by the thieves, we also saw girls urinating between our parked cars, pot being smoked openly at the POOL, assorted loud music and people, and even a wheelchair being pushed into the pool with people "riding" on it, like it was a water park attraction.
Add to that the place has STEEL doors (good for security) on WOODEN jambs/frames (bad for security).
I've been watching the reports for this place since we left, and apparently, not much has been done to make residents SAFER.
Their "security" consisted (back then) of an overweight guy with a radio, driving a CHEVETTE.
(yeah, I thought the same thing, too)
I DO know the FWPD patrols the place regularly, when they're NOT being called there (frequently).
This past Sunday, a 17 year old was shot in a car in the 7300 block of Mill Run Drive (the same block WE used to live on). This occurred at 0300 hours Sunday morning, but it shows how much "better" the place has become.
Kind of makes that commercial they air seem ALL the more "inviting"...doesn't it?
I STILL maintain that inadequate background checks are being performed with regularity, otherwise the incidents that happen there would be a lot less frequent. But hey, it's not MY job to manage the place...(lucky for THEM).
You can plainly see the type of behavior that's allowed, or tolerated...and I consider WCC better (but not by much) than MY neighborhood, so you get an idea what we're up against NOW.
Yesterday, we had THIRTY ONE boomcars (loud enough to shake the windows) drive past the house....that's more than ONE AN HOUR, but this occurred ONLY between 1100 hours and 2300 hours, so it's NOT EVEN a 24 hour span.
That is simply WAY TOO MANY LOUDASSES driving around to suit me (and the dead, who keep calling me. asking why they keep getting awakened by the noise).
I have proposed a "plan" that I believe will get rid of a lot of these acoustically-fueled idiots, and I sent it along to the FWPD quadrant captain, in the hope that it will be able to be implemented. I know it has worked in other cities, and should work HERE, as well. The cost is right in line with any city budget (truly minimal), and would do well to relieve some of the din we have to endure.
Now, you have to realize that this refers ONLY to loud MUSIC (if you can call this crap that). We also have those with MUFFLER issues. Some have these "performance" mufflers (on a POS Honda painted several colors of primer), that sound like a nest of hornets in heat, or the idiots that drive with a damaged muffler (the "motorboat boyz", as I call 'em), and we also have the occasional "WASHING-MACHINE CHARLIE".
Anyone that recalls military jargon know what that is.
It's a vehicle or aircraft with an annoying habit of backfiring, or otherwise making enough noise so as to disrupt normal activity at an outpost or base...(like SLEEPING). And they always used to be the target of small arms fire.
We have such vehicles around my neighborhood...
One guy drives (barely) a pre 2000 model dark green Concorde that sounds like 3 cylinders are MIA, the other 3 are mis-timed, and the baffles in the muffler have collapsed, producing gunshot-like backfires from the exhaust every few meters.
You can make a car do this easily enough, but this is a case of NEGLECT.
Kind of sounds like the way these people manage their LIVES and CHILDREN...with NEGLECT.
And to think that these problems are only the tip of a much larger "iceberg".
Just my luck to book passage on this Midwest Titanic called Fort Wayne, hmm?
Well, it doesn't HAVE to be this way. People have to be SHOWN, in no certain terms, WHY what they do is wrong.
A GOOD neighborhood helps EVERYONE.
Conversely, a BAD neighborhood helps a very few, as crime will no doubt show.
A GOOD neighborhood can often become a SHOWCASE...a jewel in any city's crown.
A BAD neighborhood becomes a PARIAH...a BANE on any city, relegated to the news at 6 & 11.
Thing is...I like the GOOD neighborhood gig a LOT more than the alternative.
Most everyone else around here? Not so much.
Therein lies the REAL problem.
Address THAT, and you CAN effect major change.
Anything less, and you do little if nothing to better the state of affairs.
And to think...it's ONLY Monday.
So much that can be done, and so little time with too few allies.
Still, it IS an ongoing challenge...AND an ongoing "adventure".
Now I sound like Remo Williams...or some military recruiting commercial...LOL!
Stay safe out there, America.