Neighbor say Neighbor again
No its not another James Bond movie, It is what we go through on a day to day basis in our lives with people that happen to live next door, or down the street, they used to call them Niegahbours back in the time.
I know this subject has been the talk of many people over the past two decades or more, but to be honest things are very bad nowadays. We seem to be very good in dismantling what humanity has grown over the centuries into bite sized ideas, and lost the true essence of the beauty of such social treasures.
My story with neighbors goes way back to the time my mother used to send me to our neighbors asking for a missing ingredient or other food items, in many cases she would return the favor with a home made dish, me being the delivery boy. They would welcome us to the community with a home baked cake or pie, you know just like the movies.
As time passed at the speed of light in my opinion, I seem to be missing that individual or family they call neighbors. It is so bad, that even newly weds try to enter a building on tip toe so their next doors don’t see them! I was married and never ever heard my Ex ask to invite our neighbors over. Even after the nice man and his wife actually felt we should get the ball moving and invited us over, they were the new couple in the building. It is such a shallow feeling nowadays that we tend to take the issue lightly.
I actually remember how strong this bond was in my grandfathers era. We used to know all the neighborhood by name, family members, weddings, funerals,what they did and so on. The only problem then was the growing boys and girls who would eventually screw the relationship up by hitting on one another, and finally getting caught.
Today I woke up really late, I was in the bathroom( excuse me all) reading one of the books lying there next to me, and suddenly I hear a screaming and yelling man. Me and my usual LAGAFA (ears dropping) decided to hone in and focus all my still asleep senses to get what he was saying. It turns out this 2 year neighbor of mine was blaming me for leaving the Garbage outside close to his door. Now, a quick recap of this neighbor: He moved in some 2 years ago, was a bachelor, I was married, he used to throw lame parties that involved strange creatures( honestly) and we would end up having a battle in the early morning hours just to see who has a louder stereo system, after a while we both lost. He never said hi, even when i did, so I decided to ignore him.
Once he complained about the Garbage and told the guard to ask my maid to stop throwing it in the Garbage area, and throw it another place far from his location, his location honestly sucked right next to the garbage door! So we accepted. Today he was flaming off at the poor guy talking behind my back so the whole area can hear what a bad person mamdooh is.
I jump out of the bathroom, I could barely open my eyes, in my shorts and ran out the front door to call the guard, and to my surprise Mr. neighbor was right there! Knowing I had not done anything wrong I attacked full force, no enemies was my strategy.
Me: Are you talking about me?
Neighbor: Yes you seem to be putting your garbage here all the time, not caring about me!
Me: Don’t you ever go talking about me behind my back, I never did it, I was amazed how you could have left it out in front of your door while not allowing me!
Neighbor: No I thought it was you.
Me: Are you saying also that I don’t return your SALAM( Hello’s) You seem to be so stuck up you never did when you first moved here!
Neighbor: I was the one that saw you at prayer last friday and you never said hi to me!
Me: Give me a break, I am a well brought up person, and know my social boundaries well, I never even saw you, besides it must have been the sun or me just waking up in my sunglasses! I would never do that to a stranger, let alone a neighbor.
Neighbor: Well I too am a person with great traditions and come from a sheikhs family, and know my boundaries.
Me: Who cares if your a sheikh or whatever, we all end up in a 2 meter grave sooner or later, so lets just say we had our differences, and bury it in the past, I would never harm a neighbor.
Neighbor: Sorry Mamdooh, please come in for a coffee or lunch.
Me: No thanks, next time when you have something just ring my bell.( If it was a girl, I would sing her” Let’s just kiss and say goodbye!”)
At that moment a cat passes by “ meeeaw” I look at the cat “ no food for you today little neighbor” the neighbor cracks up.
The end.
I swear true to the very last word.
Do you know your neighbors?
Mamdooh Al-Radadi
me@mamdoohalradadi.com
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