Testing our patience
I should probably watch myself with this post. Where we previously lived we had great neighbors for blocks and blocks. Friendly people would stop to chat, wave hello as they walked by, or pick up your garbage can if it blew over. Then we moved. We have some great neighbors over here too but we also have others who overshadow those great new neighbors. And this morning was the straw that broke the Crafts' back.
Matt has an ISU yard sign; a testament to his allegiance to Iowa State. Yesterday Kate and I were walking out of the house to play when an older kid rode by on his bike and kicked the ISU sign. Being the more vocal of the Crafts I yelled at him to mind his own business. Then this morning we woke up to find the yard sign ripped and bent and not where we left it. My first response was to post a sign reading "I hate this neighborhood." Then I realized the possible retaliation. After a brisk jog I regained my wits and we came up with a much better plan.
One of Matt's favorite books is "The Tipping Point." In this book the author writes about former New York Mayor Giuliani. When he first took office New York City was a rough place with gangs ruling the streets and rampant graffiti littering its buildings. Giuliani cleaned up all of the graffiti only for the same punks to come back and graffiti again. So Giuliani cleaned it up. After a few repeated cleanups the persons committing the graffiti realized there was no gratification in defacing property and eventually quit doing so. This, along with other events, helped return New York City to a safe and beautiful community. So where am I going with this? Well Matt and I put up a fresh new ISU sign this morning. And if it is destroyed again, well we have several more as backups. We will not allow this kid to receive any gratification for his thoughtless destruction of property. But we're not as nice as this post sounds. We will continue to put up new signs but if this kid and/or his buddies ruin two or three more signs we are planning a stake out. We're both training for a half marathon and can run pretty fast.
(By the way kid on the bike, if you are reading this, I want you to know I remember what you look like.)
(I should also note that this neighborhood is very safe and we do not feel threatened in the slightest. We just have a few people who push our buttons.)
Matt has an ISU yard sign; a testament to his allegiance to Iowa State. Yesterday Kate and I were walking out of the house to play when an older kid rode by on his bike and kicked the ISU sign. Being the more vocal of the Crafts I yelled at him to mind his own business. Then this morning we woke up to find the yard sign ripped and bent and not where we left it. My first response was to post a sign reading "I hate this neighborhood." Then I realized the possible retaliation. After a brisk jog I regained my wits and we came up with a much better plan.
One of Matt's favorite books is "The Tipping Point." In this book the author writes about former New York Mayor Giuliani. When he first took office New York City was a rough place with gangs ruling the streets and rampant graffiti littering its buildings. Giuliani cleaned up all of the graffiti only for the same punks to come back and graffiti again. So Giuliani cleaned it up. After a few repeated cleanups the persons committing the graffiti realized there was no gratification in defacing property and eventually quit doing so. This, along with other events, helped return New York City to a safe and beautiful community. So where am I going with this? Well Matt and I put up a fresh new ISU sign this morning. And if it is destroyed again, well we have several more as backups. We will not allow this kid to receive any gratification for his thoughtless destruction of property. But we're not as nice as this post sounds. We will continue to put up new signs but if this kid and/or his buddies ruin two or three more signs we are planning a stake out. We're both training for a half marathon and can run pretty fast.
(By the way kid on the bike, if you are reading this, I want you to know I remember what you look like.)
(I should also note that this neighborhood is very safe and we do not feel threatened in the slightest. We just have a few people who push our buttons.)
Comments