FRAGILE CONDITIONS FOR A HAPPY LIFE

Fragile conditions lay all around us but we never notice until fragile turns into broken.

Speak up too early and you’re ‘One Of Them’, a worry wort, or attention whore, or you’ve too much time on your hands, kind of person.

I’ve seen a message, maybe you too, that life on earth is dependent on a six inch layer of topsoil, and rain.

That’s it?

What about “The REST of the story?’

I get the part about dirt and rain and food grown in that mess, but what about the bigger mess?

That’s where you come in.

Who is the most fragile among people you know?

My vote goes to control freaks. You know them, maybe you are them?

If you live in a neighborhood with an active drug house with couriers working under the radar since the last SWAT team hit on them, you know the story.

Yeah, me too. I know the story: Call the police if I notice any unusual activity.

That’s the story, but not the REST of the story.

Fragile Conditions For Cooperation

What do you do when a house goes up for sale in the neighborhood and you meet potential buyers?

Who tells them about the drug house traffic?

Did the realtor tell them about their next door neighbors?

“You’ll find a fabulous gourmet kitchen, a to-die-for pool with a cover that expands the already sumptuous custom entertainment deck, and a meth-friendly neighbor that’s been hit by SWAT Teams twice, the last time with flash-bangs and dogs at four in the morning with arrests after a run through the beautiful green space privacy the property backs on to.”

How many give a “Hell yes, sign me the fuck up right now.”

The buyers eventually figure out the neighbors knew about the drug house and said nothing.

Instead of the quiet, no traffic, private road and exclusivity they expected, they get this:

An old lady in an orange wig, along with a man carrying the sheen of institutional time on his face since his forest run, driving big cars into street signs with their customers lying comatose in the street outside.

What’s never heard in that house:

“Kids, momma’s busy so go out in the front and play. Just watch for swerving cars speeding around the corner and OD’d people laying in the gutter. Okay? Have fun. I’ll call you for lunch.”

The Ripple Effect Of Fragile Conditions

In a neighborhood of baby boomers, some self-confessed Portland Oregon baby boomers, you know, the worst, because their status gives them the authority to speak on Portland’s problems, an active drug house is a go sign.

As in go get a surveillance system that records everything on the block from cars to people to ex-con looking drag-asses casing the place.

To them everyone is an ex-con drag-ass on the prowl.

Man out walking a dog with his wife: Whenever I see older guys walking by themselves I’m suspicious.

Wife: Suspicious of what. You’ve taken walks by yourself.

Man: And I’ve felt suspicious about myself.

Wife: Like you’re a secret cat burglar? You’re a piece of work.

Man: Thank you for noticing, dear. Have you seen anyone suspicious recently.

Wife: Besides you? There was a guy yesterday.

Man: Did he look like a meth guy?

Wife: No, just out of place. Not like a regular walker arounds here in their high school coat and orthopedic walkers. He looked like he was dressed for a show.

A short time later they meet the surveillance neighbor:

Man: Did you see anyone walking around here yesterday?

Neighbor: You mean the black guy?

Man: I don’t know.

Neighbor: The guy you waved to?

Man: I didn’t wave to anyone I didn’t see.

Neighbor: Not you, your wife. She waved to him.

Man: She’s friendly, she waves to anyone.

Neighbor: I have her on tape waving to him.

Man: That’s good, but my wife waving doesn’t mean she’s dating strangers wandering around the neighborhood. Just so we’re clear.

Neighbor: We’re clear.

And he went on his way.

The Ripple Part

If you have a surveillance neighbor in a drug house neighborhood recording your wife and you and your house 24/7 to fulfill their interpretation of civic responsibility?

That’s a ripple.

Say there was a daylight dope deal they caught on film just outside your front yard and they take a still from video that includes your house and front yard and post it online?

That’s a ripple.

What happens when they take an attitude of ‘You’re either with me, or against me’ regarding installing a surveillance system and establishing constant contact with the police?

That’s a ripple.

But what if the neighbor is a good guy with a kind heart and not a bitter control freak on the edge of something?

It might be different if they were a Trump-infused fundamentalist acting out a television show revenge plot.

Then we’d know for certain how things end in these fragile conditions.

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