In the interest of full disclosure let it be known that von Rum is not a people person. I have no real interest in meeting new people nor do I enjoy crowds in any form. I find most people repulsive. This is not hypocrisy though for my opinion of myself is not much better. I sympathize with Joseph de Maistre’s statement that “Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free.” That being said though I do attempt to be cordial to strangers. It is the people I get to know who truly disgust me.
Having in recent months moved to a new neighborhood I have tried to be as friendly as nature allows me to my neighbors. A few days after we moved in a tree in my next door neighbor’s back yard hard came down in a windstorm. I went out and helped him clear it all our of our yards. We agreed to cut up the bulk of it this fall.
Things were going swimmingly all summer. We did not frequent each others homes by any means but usually spoke to each other outside and carried any misdelivered mail to each other. The normal sort of suburban middle class neighborhood.
Then came the campaign season.
Elections rarely bring out the best in people. Instead they reveal the base passions, prejudices, and irrational fears common to us all. An intellectual event an election is not. Especially a presidential election. This one is no different, and perhaps in many ways worse. I know of friends separated and old loyalties split over this farce.
Still in the context of being free to express an opinion I saw no problem with my neighbor’s yard sign supporting a presidential candidate. My only thought was that my neighbor is probably not as bright as I thought he might be for supporting that phony. Still it would not have varied my treatment of my neighbor one bit. Everyone is free to support who they will, despite the stupidity of the decision.
With that in mind I foresaw no problems when a few days later I put up a sign in my yard supporting the candidate opposite my neighbors. I was wrong.
Heading out to work one morning after the sign was up a few days I saw the neighbor’s wife in her front yard. She was looking at me so I waved my hand and said, “Good Morning.” She stared right through me, turned and went into her house. I was amused. It was later that night when relating the event to my wife that she told me that a day earlier the husband next door had refused to respond to her in a similar manner.
Personally I thought it was hilarious.
Do we take this that seriously? I know at times I do, and have real reasons for who I vote for. I also have real concerns about the future should the other candidate win. Still, in the end we are, at least the majority of us, going to be screwed by whichever party wins because they are equally corrupt. Their corruption only slants in slightly different angles. A rotten red tomato and rotten turnip are both still rotten.
This reaction of my neighbor is probably not all that uncommon. How many out there have had a similar experience due to an expressed opinion? Some of it boils down to party loyalty handed down in families like fine china or the secrets of the crazy old aunt. Much of it though stems from different views of the world and the nature of man. Still there is no need for rudeness. Even a misanthrope like me can be friendly to someone I profoundly disagree with. If you have to kill a man the least you can do is be friendly about it.
Some see it differently.
von Rum
The Daily Rum 