Love thy neighbor; is it really possible?

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In today’s world, open spaces are rapidly disappearing. More and more, people find themselves living in neighborhoods with small yards. This puts everyone in very close proximity to their neighbors. When your neighbor is a nice person with similar values, this can be a mutually satisfying relationship. However, oftentimes, we find ourselves living next to someone that we would never socialize with in casual society. That person may be simply annoying, slovenly, or outright rude and offensive. Whichever the case, we commonly find ourselves at odds with our neighbors. There are several types of neighbors that everyone can relate to. I’ll just list a few of them here. The Busybody: every neighborhood has one of these. The Busybody feels that it is their job to keep an eye on the neighborhood and to tell everyone about the daily goings-on. She is never out of the loop and is the gossip queen. She will spread her “knowledge” far and wide and defend it to the death. Just because you mind your own business and keep your nose clean does not mean you are safe. She will regale everyone on the block with her story of how she saw a car that looked “just like Jim Smith’s” parked outside of Milly Somes’ home until midnight the other night. She’ll also tell you how she always knew that Milly was a woman of loose virtue and that she has heard the Smith’s arguing on many occasions. The simple fact that Milly had a relative visiting from out of town on that evening just doesn’t make a good story. No one is safe from her conjecture. The Slob: This person usually has several slovenly children, all dressed in dirty clothing, that run amok, causing mayhem throughout the neighborhood. The Slob can usually be found sitting in a lawn chair on his front yard, beer can in hand, peering out at the street through all the broken toys, car parts and furniture that are strewn about his lot. The Slob sees nothing wrong with the way that he keeps his house. If you don’t like it, mind your own business. His kids have full bellies and that’s all that matters. He could care less about your property values. The Dog Owner: I’m not talking about the conscientious dog owner. I’m referring to the person who feels that owning a dog is his right and that you should mind your own business. He may or may not feed the dog, but it is most certainly not taken to the vet for its immunizations. These dog owners leave their dogs outside all day and all night. The dogs are usually tied to trees or dilapidated dog houses, where they beat muddy circles in the grass to mark the edges of their prison cells. These dogs are not used to human contact and usually bark constantly. Efforts to speak to the Dog Owner about his animals will be met with hostility. Calls to animal control are usually more productive, as the owner will then take necessary measures to avoid being fined. The Dog Owner is no friend to man or beast. As you can tell, this is one of those days when the negative aspects of close neighbors are glaringly obvious to me. The dogs barking in the next yard are driving me insane. The busybody neighbor is spreading the rumor that my truck has been repossessed (it’s actually in the shop for engine repairs). The neighbor on my other side has more garbage sitting on his front porch than one garbage truck could haul away. Where are the nice neighbors that bake cookies and invite your children over to play? I miss the country on days like these.