Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of work, writing, and running. I love summer because of its longer days. I get more done and spend more time outside which is good for my heart and soul.
I hope you’re all getting out into the sunshine and fresh air. It does wonders for your body and mood. But enough about that, today I want to talk about dealing with all the stress in our world today.
It just seems to me that people are angrier than ever. I see it on social media and in daily life. In fact, I just had an experience that left me baffled. This was the weekend of the fourth of July, and my boys had a couple friends come over, and they brought fireworks with them. It was about nine in the evening and still light outside.
They were having a great time as they shot them off. Out of nowhere, a new neighbor appeared. I had had one conversation with her where I introduced myself and welcomed her and her family to the neighborhood. She had never met my boys or their friends, but I digress.
She came barreling out of her home which is probably two hundred feet from the cul-de-sac, and when she was close enough for my boys to hear her, she said, “Don’t f**** with me.”
These were the first words out of her mouth.
Then she proceeded to yell at them because their fireworks were loud, and her two kids were trying to sleep. Now, I understand she has young children, and she probably needed a few hours of time by herself. My boys are teenagers and didn’t even know her or the fact she had young kids. What I object to is the fact, that she came down spoiling for a fight right away. If she had approached my boys and just asked them to stop lighting the fireworks because her kids were trying to sleep, they would’ve complied without a problem.
The next day she did apologize to my son by texting me. However, I still didn’t feel good about the situation, so when I ran into her, I said, “When you have an issue with my boys, I want you to come to me.”
She said, “Okay.”
That was the end of the conversation, but I feel I got my point across. She doesn’t have the authority to tell my kids what to do, or to discipline them for that matter, and there is a state ordinance that people can light fireworks on their own property that supersedes any association bylaws between June 29th and July 4th. All my boys had to do was move ten feet onto our driveway and they would’ve been within their rights.
My oldest handled the situation by promising to stop what they were doing, and I was proud how he handled it, but my neighbor’s behavior upset me.
When did we become a society where we’re spoiling for a fight right out of the gate? I see this on social media too. I have people who’re mutual friends of mine who don’t know each other but will argue relentlessly with each other on social media. I’ve had to delete a few posts because of this.
How did we get here?
What happened to cooperation instead of competition?
How did we become so divided?
We all want the same thing. A safe place to raise our kids and live our lives. How did we get so far away from that common goal?
How do we get back?
These are the questions I ask myself late at night when I can’t get to sleep, and last night I couldn’t sleep (too much caffeine during the day) hence this post.
How about you? Do these questions nag you? Do you have any solutions? Please leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
