Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
It’s Not One Thing, It’s Everything
Our next-door neighbor’s pile of cardboard boxes reached epic proportions this morning. He opens his back door and tosses the empty boxes over his porch railing so that, over time, it becomes an intricate and very tall sculpture of not caring. We see his artwork every day when we walk our dogs down our shared driveway.
We couldn’t exactly hold hands across the driveway with our neighbor, but our houses are very close to each other. We could hear his parents arguing in their kitchen when he was a boy. That was decades ago.
So, I wonder if breaking down the boxes and stacking them at the curb for the recycling crew to pick up is ever on my neighbor’s to-do list. I don’t think so. He bristles when we mention that the pile is getting too impressive. He claims the city won’t pick up his recycling so there is no point in putting the boxes at the curb. We shrug, roll our eyes, and keep walking. Sometimes, I think about breaking down the boxes myself. I spent much of my teen years in the stock room of our Ben Franklin store where using an exacto knife to slit through packing tape was a guy thing that I loved doing.
But my neighbor’s mess, my mess, everybody’s mess is what is chosen to ignore. His mess is public. It bothers other people, creates an eyesore, invites rats to gather their friends and form a commune. Most people’s messes are private. Most people – and I’m just pontificating here, I don’t really know – are loathe to display their messes for the masses. We keep our tangled necklaces under wraps, always intending to unravel them but choosing neglect instead.
It strikes me that my rant is unkind. That it’s not my place to shame my neighbor because the manifestation of his personal mess is so, well, messy. It feels judgy and unnecessary. It is, after all, no skin off my nose if he has an enormous, crazy-making mountain of cardboard boxes ten feet from my back porch.
Still, there are the Epstein files, ICE, Minneapolis, the Kennedy Center, Greenland, Homeland Security, the rubble of the East Wing, Renee Good’s brothers testifying in Congress, threats and lies, people dying all over the place, and the endlessness that is this moment.
And the cardboard boxes.
_______________________
Photo by Wayee Tan on Unsplash
11 Comments on “It’s Not One Thing, It’s Everything”
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Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
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Your neighbor is mentally ill. Break the boxes down and put them out.
Maybe but I don’t think so. We generally get along well. It really is this one issue. Otherwise, it’s okay.
I saw Renee’s brothers. Also other people who were assaulted and hauled out of their cars and homes by ICE. Horrific.
Heartbreaking. But so courageous of all of them to travel to DC and speak up after what they’ve gone through.
Maybe no skin off your nose right now but when the monumental pile catches fire for instance, just ten feet from your house… or you end up eating dinner with a bunch of new rat friends… I would wonder what the inside of the house looks like- probably a scene that could add incredible amounts of fuel to that dumpster fire in the backyard? Totally agree there are way worse things going on right now, however…
I agree the pile is an actual threat to your safety, neighborhood sanitation, and if you ever need to market your house, the real estate value.
In addition, the attitude of your neighbor hints at a deeper personal disjointment. And that might be personally threatening in the future if his issues impinge on you in a closer manner – trash blowing over into your property, or personal disagreements.
You’re right. We’ve known this guy since he was a kid and we generally have an okay relationship, but the box thing has been a whole new dimension.
You’re right. Thanks. We have to keep dealing with it/him to keep it from reoccurring.
Now I must see that actual pile of boxes. Could you sneak out and snap a photo?
Too late. He must have sensed me writing over here. Most of it was gone by yesterday afternoon but noticed this morning that new boxes have joined the pile.
I just suggested that you put them out as he clearly has some type of mental illness.