The insanity of my neighbors may be seen as humorous at first, but has recently given me insight about the flaws in our society. These flaws not only affect my neighborhood, but it has also had a negative impact on my family and I. I am an only child and I have lived in the same place my entire life. I adore my house with its faint aroma of pine and its strong, sturdy walls constructed of logs. It has given me shelter through the frigid winters and unbearably humid summers. All throughout my childhood, I saw my home as a wooden castle with its grand ceilings and the canopy of trees that blow haphazardly in the wind when a strong storm hits. My childhood filled with exploring the vast expanse of my six-acre forest with my faithful dog and building teepees out of fallen branches. This is the place I call home.

My abode is tucked away and surrounded by trees so tall and broad that our house isn’t even visible from the road. My rural neighborhood has few houses and a couple scattered farms up the road that I pass on my runs. Overall, our neighborhood is peaceful and secluded. As multiple people have said, it’s equivalent to Paradise. That is until our new neighbors decided to move in with their rowdy, misbehaved children, music, and fireworks.
Approximately three years ago the ginormous house to my right was bought from an elderly couple by a family with a young girl and her two older brothers. Equipped with an extravagant pool and as much land as we own, they were getting their money's worth. Almost immediately, my parents and I learned that we would soon despise them. At about six a.m. in the morning, the pair of boys decided to shoot guns and drive their four-wheelers right on the brink of our property. This continued almost every day and one evening, my dad was looking out the window and observed that the boys and their friends were carelessly running around on our property. Later that year, they decided to set off fireworks in the middle of the day and that night they threw a party. My mom heard obnoxious screaming, gunshots, and fireworks going off loudly in the dark of night. So, being home alone, she called the police. Ever since that night they have held a grudge against us. This trend continued even after this eventful night and no matter how many times the police were called they didn’t seem to care. Recently, on the Fourth of July, fireworks could be heard all day long. They were so boisterous that the neighbors down the road ended up calling the cops. But of course, they continue to be disrespectful and noisy to this date. 

Just when my parents and I didn’t think it could get any worse, it did. Roughly a year ago, new neighbors moved into the dingy log cabin adjacent to our home. At first they seemed to be a kind and respectful couple. They are a little older than my parents and have no children or animals. Perfect we thought, finally a break!  After about a week into their residency, our opinions of them changed very quickly. Hard-rock music came blasting from their house, all day and all night. It was so loud it shook our house. When it finally stopped, my mom found the woman on Facebook and decided to message her regarding this issue. My mother was very amiable and asked if they could keep their music down. The woman was agreeable and promised that they would. Unfortunately, a week later, the same music traveled over to our house. Being extremely annoyed, we decided to call the cops. For some time they didn’t play their music and it was considerably peaceful. But recently, even when I was writing this essay, they turned on their unbearable music yet again.

In order to cope with this issue, my family and I have tried to view it as humorous rather than disruptive. But it shouldn't have to be like this. Underneath this humor is a strong sense of disrespect in our society today and how some people, especially our new neighbors, have no values. It is unbelievable to think that even after all those visits from the police and begging them to stop, they still continue to do whatever they want. Being the house in the middle of this has not been the greatest and has affected all of our sleeping schedules. It has even taken a toll on our neighbors and has scared their horses to the point where they had to receive special shots to calm them down. This has taught me that as time goes on people become less aware of other people’s feelings and well-being. It has taught me that people are not always aware of the damage that they cause which in turn pushes me to try to be someone who is respectful in order to at least be the best person I can be in this harsh world.