Idiots

I really despise idiots. My husband says that I project. I project my values and ideas of the way things should be when I talk about them. I could talk about them in a clinical way, I could just write about the facts, but this would be boring.

My ideas of fun do not coincide with their ideas of fun. From what I could tell, their ideas of fun were inciting their mad dogs to fight with each other, barking like crazy. Yelling and talking loudly and setting off random fireworks. We were sitting out on the deck enjoying the beautiful weather when the young man next door cranks over some type of vehicular device meant for riding through the mud and on trails. It was large, heavy, loud, with absolutely no type of exhaust system. Did I mention it was loud? The young man decided to ride said vehicle up and down his yard (the whole 2+ acres) and then out onto the street. (It is a dead end street at the end of a township). The gas fumes permeated the yard and woke up my 4 week old with the decibels. It was 8 o'clock in the evening. My sister called the sheriff to complain. They made it out there by 9:30 and caught him on the road and gave him a ticket.

After the sheriff left, the young man sat in his yard and revved his 4-wheeler for a full 2 minutes at full throttle. It woke up my kid again and filled our house with gas fumes. He did this not once but twice. My mother called again to complain. My parents went to bed and then the fireworks started. It's midnight, Em is still awake and I can hear them talking through the open window about being quiet so that they won't wake up the lady next door. (whatever) The smell of gunpowder drifts through the window (There is no central air in this house) as I finally get to sleep. When I wake up, the sooty smell of a bonfire permeates the house.

So who is the idiot in this story? Was it us for calling the sheriff and ticking off the neighbor? Was it the neighbor for being such a dolt to own a vehicle such as that with no place to ride it? The neighbor for having such ideas of fun? Oops, I a projecting again.

I have some friends who own these vehicles in Virginia. They ride them on trails. Their nearest neighbor is a mile away. Their actions do not affect their neighbors. Their bonfires are not an issue, nor their dogs. My niece has one of these here in Ohio. She rides them on trails and she says they are fun. I am sure they are. They are not MY type of fun. My niece knows better than to ride one late at night or on the road.

I guess that is the difference. The difference is knowing better. Knowing that your actions affect others. Knowing that the possibility of what you do affects the people around you... and caring about it. I guess that is the difference.