Myanmar Highlights Pettiness: Why We Must Overcome Political Differences

Sometimes I cannot begin to express my disbelief and anger over the mean-spiritedness and stupidity of people. This happens on a personal and national level, and it makes no sense.

Yesterday was trash day in my neighborhood. I live in a gorgeous old home in a great neighborhood. The house has been converted into two apartments and apparently, I am at war with my neighbors.

I just didn't get notice of the declaration.

I think it began earlier this year when I told the landlord honestly what happened to the lawn. Neither of the people upstairs owns a car, but they do have friends that drop them off or come to visit. Technically, according to our leases, no one is allowed to park in the driveway except the people who live here. Unless someone has me blocked in though, I don't really care.

But last winter one of the neighbor's visitors in a big SUV turned around on the lawn in the backyard. That particular area of the yard is swamp-like and he left ruts several inches deep in the lawn. They froze that way since it was winter and the landlord saw it the next time she visited.

She asked me about the ruts and I pointed out, nicely, that I have a compact car. In my best CSI impression, I pointed out that the tire tracks were far too large for my little car. And, I told her who was responsible, even describing the vehicle.
Apparently, this caused the neighbors to declare war.

We share a set of garbage cans and in the past, whoever thought of it first, took the cans to the curb on trash day. Usually, the other one would then return the cans to their rightful location after the trash pickup. It worked this way for well over a year with no disputes.
Now however, they make an effort to make sure this doesn't happen. Specifically, they will take one can to the curb and leave the other behind. In fact, they have gone so far as to remove my trash bag (I use white bags, they use black) from a can and then take only one can to the curb.

At first, I was annoyed and thought "Two can play this game", but now I view this as a sad commentary on the world as a whole. They are so petty that they make an effort to do petty things.