force

I have forced things to happen in my life, before. Why just this morning I was forcing my will on a woman. She is the supervisor of the apartment building next door. The manager of this building asked for me to call her. It's been five years of really bad and really loud music coming from the next door neighbors. I try to be the peacekeeper. But, it's been really disrespectful, lately. Maybe, now I'm a mama bear and my standards are higher. I don't know. But, I called this woman and she gave me the blow off. Oh, give my your number and I'll call back after I speak to the owner. She doesn't know that I know the manager of this building has asked every single person who lives in this building to call her. So, I knew she was giving me the blow off. Then, she insisted they are going to send a letter to the tenant. I was blunt with her. A letter's not going to do anything. Again, I was forcing my will on her. I am sending her compassion as we speak. She probably has over 25 buildings to manage and she cannot keep them straight. She probably has legalites to worry about. She probably doesn't want some gringa chistosa starting her day off with a complaint. But, this was an example of letting it get too far. We're having tensions in the neighborhood. Neighbors in my building have come up to me and complained to me about the neighbors. What am I going to do about it? But, I am a loud, outspoken, demanding American woman. Maybe, it makes sense that they came to me. Who knows? Deep breath in and out.
I'm contemplating the right way to handle this. My next door neighbor is from Sri Lanka. I'm uncomfortable when she calls the next door people "these people". She complained about them. Complaining does not change anything. I asked her what Buddha would do. She was stuck and then said "he would preach". I don't know what all of the great spiritual leaders of human history would do. I just know I let out five years of anger out at the supervisor. I never knew the building had a supervisor. Fo shizzles, they don't have a manager or these tensions would not have escalated. I am trying not to whine. I am, just, dissecting the learning situation and trying to unravel the truths and lessons that are buried deeply under my irritation.
I have explained to neighbors I don't like how it has turned into us and them...that's not healthy. I was visiting a friend's fiance in prison the other weekend and he said he would just explain to neighbors that come up to us that we need communication.
I thought that was a very evolved answer.
The supervisor this morning, in my opinion, tried to give me the blow off and asked for me to call the cops. I'm not doing any of that nonsense. I believe it's her job to communicate to the tenants and I explained this to her. I wouldn't say I did it as nicely as I would have liked to. They are making a profit by housing their tenants and it's, in my opinion, the property owner's responsibility to have their tenants respectfully reside there. Listen, my dear reader, the music has been so loud that I cannot have a phone conversation on the phone or watch the television.
The manager of our building put in his two weeks to our building's owner. The owner of our building spoke to the next door building's owner. The manager of our building told us to call the supervisor.
Drama.
Who needs it?
I can only learn from the situation.
The rent is cheap.
Dirt cheap.
But, disrespectful neighbors happens in all different neighborhoods.
I've watched movies and news stories about it.
It ain't anything new.
So, I figure we have something to learn from one another.
Our neighborhood is an international community. Local billboards have been in English, Spanish, Armenian, and Korean. I took an hour walk this morning and I could have been traveling in a foreign country. I LIKE this about our neighborhood. There's a lot of the youth's freedom of expression (grafitti), there's a lot of excess clutter (litter), and there's an unsafe vibe circulating. The manager of our building had his apartment broken into. Supposedly, they took the key for our next door neighbor's apartment. Who knows what's true. That's one thing I have learned. Do not believe everything you hear. It's like the game telephone.
Well, deep breath in and out.
I am grateful for my neighborhood.
I am grateful my spanish has improved.
I am grateful for the learning experiences I have learned here.
I am grateful for the opportunity to have cheap rent so my companion, my child, and myself can travel overseas.
I am grateful for the space.
This place is really, really spacious.
We need to winnow down our possessions, but, we have a generous amount of space.
I'm very suprised that I'm talking so much about the neighbor's.
Isn't everything a reflection, anyway?
Why would I try to force my will on the supervisor.
I told her they need to send warnings to each tenant in Spanish and English.
I wonder what will happen.
I did a good thing on the phone conversation this morning.
I apologized when I caught myself.
I shifted my consciousness and did better.
I'm becoming a better person from this experience.
I didn't EXACTLY force my will on the supervisor, but, I did make recommendations.
And...I did an excellent job of establishing the boundary...I really didn't want to give her my telephone number.
I really didn't want to have to do any more work...or any more negativity from the experience.
In hindsight....I did a pretty good job.
We are more than energy....we have our own way of running our own universe.
I'm doing a lot of research about parallel universes.
I find the idea of parallel universes fascinating.