Friday Follies...
End of another week, and the beginning of another "soft" day here in Fort Wayne...
That's right, more rain, but not in the deluge amounts other parts of the nation have suffered.
Still, as I've stated so many times before, any inclement weather does help to dissuade all the obnoxious people driving those thumping ass boomcars in our area. It won't stop the "hard-core" ones, though.
To do that would take putting a bullet to their head, and I mean that in a GOOD way.
I would liken that to something in the "urban-renewal" realm.
Be a nice "message" to send to those stomping all over other peoples' right to be left the hell alone.
But I digress...
In many neighborhoods, there are associations that are there to help the citizens with problems, and many times, they are VERY effective.
Not so in our neighborhood.
In many neighborhoods, they have what's known as a "Neighborhood Watch", where citizens (with radios) patrol their area looking for things "out of the ordinary". And they work pretty well, too.
Not so in our neighborhood.
In many neighborhoods, they even have "block captains", who people can go to with their concerns. The block captain contacts the proper city agency and things get done. Again, this works pretty damn well.
And again...not so in OUR neighborhood.
When it comes to citizen involvement on some sort of defined level..."we got nothing"...period!
The ONLY involvement usually stems from someone calling the FWPD due to a domestic (signal 46), a battery (signal 96), or some sort of "disturbance" (typically a signal 43).
Sometimes, but not all that often, whatever is going on impacts on someone else in the area, and then THEY call the police, usually for some sort of fight (signal 55), a suspicious person (signal 48), and a property issue, such as a burglary (signal 50) or theft (signal 51), or even my personal favorite - shots fired (signal 113).
Whenever there is ANY problem, it's up to that individual citizen...that "Lone Wolf", who decides that this crap has got to stop, one way or another. And, as is often the case, people like this didn't CHOOSE to bear that title.
I am a Lone Wolf in my area.
And I certainly didn't choose to become one.
I had hoped for a little more banality in the autumn of my life.
I became one out of necessity, and of a sense of doing what is right.
Case in point....the lawns of vacant houses on our block.
The two houses directly south of ours (what I refer to as the "Demilitarized Zone" between US and "them") have been vacant for the better part of a year, and thankfully, no human flotsam has been placed in them to date.
Now, whatever bank owns these houses is not in the business of maintaining them, as the ever rising grass on the lawn will bear witness to.
And, naturally, it will become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and another "dumping ground" for the locals (they like places like this even MORE than ours...go figure).
So, I do what ANY concerned citizen WOULD do...I call it in as a weed violation (a misnomer, as there are hardly ANY weeds per se...just grasses). And the houses get "tagged" by the city.
Well, yesterday was MOWING DAY, and three men came out fully prepared to do battle...
Within 30 minutes, we had nicely mowed lawns (they didn't pick up the trimmings...can't have everything).
Not a bad job...and the bank gets to pick up the "tab" for making the CITY mow them...I love it.
Of course, that means the bank will have to move that property, and that always means more section 8'ers with no background checks and more friends than you can shake a stick at...in other words, typical "south side neighbors" (if you can call them that....I have other words that describe them much better).
I can already predict that whatever winds up living in these houses will be non-working, with children (probably 3-4), and a boyfriend of the month, replete with "associates" of dubious intent and demeanor.
Oh, and they will "dress the part", if you get my drift.
And that brings me to another facet of this "Theater of the Absurd".
I've always believed that VARIETY is, in fact, the spice of life.
Sure, there are times when getting into a "pattern" works, such as laundry, or cooking, or even home maintenance.
You find something that works, and stick with it...much like a specific course you take to and from your job.
You may deviate out of necessity, but otherwise, you stick to the routine.
However, in other parts of your life, you find that the MORE you experience, the more you GROW... AS a person.
You take trips, read books, see other places, visit other towns or parks, or whatever.
Many times, you find that doing the same thing, day in and day out becomes downright BORING.
You embrace the diversity OF LIFE ITSELF, and the almost infinite aspects contained within.
Not so in OUR neighborhood...
I see the SAME people, doing the exact SAME things, day after day, year after year.
They must view the universe as a three square block area of the south side...and that's pathetic.
I feel that as you get older, you seek things that are different so that you can continue to evolve AS a person, and be able to share it with others. That's what always made grandparents so damn fun to be with.
They did so much...and with so little.
That impressed me, and I sought to do likewise as much as I could.
Yet, these people around here are TEDIOUS to behold.
You can see in their eyes that whatever "spark of life" SHOULD exist...does not.
And they hide behind their boisterous activities so we won't notice.
They listen to music that degrades women, pushes the thug life, and speaks to violence..all the damn time.
They play their music at house-shaking levels...all the damn time.
They hang out and wander in the streets...all the damn time
They have no real future to speak of, and they're proud of that fact and flaunt it...all the damn time.
Many would think this shocking, and some would even be lavishing sympathy for such people.
I don't.
Again, they CHOOSE to do and act the way they do...never really growing up, and yet never retaining any of the innocence we ALL had as children.
They're stuck in between, in some purgatorial void, with little to speak of except their own unique form of "maturity".
They have their OWN way of doing everything, it seems.
They dress like slobs (read thugs and whores), do whatever they want to, whenever the mood strikes them (like littering and loitering...and causing crime), and have no sense of other people who might want to live a NORMAL life. It's all about "them".
They have their OWN form of "street justice" (which is FAR removed from any form of REAL justice), have little if NO respect for ANY type of authority (ask any officer), wouldn't know how to tell a truth if it came up and bit them in their ass, and believe that the world revolves around THEM.
Like I say...it's pretty damn sad.
But maybe that's what they WANT you to think...
They want you to feel sorry for them, so you'll "help" them.
(I mean, that's what "POOR" has been re-defined as THESE days, right?)
That would be like handing a school of sharks a bloody fish...don't expect to get your ARM back in the process in the frenzy.
The only help they really NEED is motivational in nature, and that always begins with SELF.
Thomas Jefferson said it best I suppose when he stated:
"The best way to help the poor is to make them uncomfortable in their poverty."
Or perhaps it was Benjamin Franklin who said:
"We should make the poor uncomfortable and kick them out of their poverty."
Either way, it takes us back to an era when a LOT more people were looking for a hand UP (if they weren't too proud to accept the help)...instead of a hand OUT.
We shall always have poor people among us, but we can do something to minimize it, and that doesn't mean take from everyone else to make the poor "richer". It means we need to stop bringing everyone DOWN to the poor person's level, and instead ELEVATE those in poverty UP to a better standard.
Let that be the lesson for the day, and something we all need to take to heart.
ALL of us have the POTENTIAL to be more than what we are, or could imagine.
All WE have to do..is BELIEVE it..and then DO it. Have a great weekend, make a difference to someone, and, as always...
Stay safe out there, America.