A letter to another 800lbs gorilla

In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for this own misdeeds. The man who remembers this will be angry with no one, indignant with no one, revile no one, blame no one, offend no one, and hate no one.

-- Epictetus


Dear Neighbor

It has come to my attention that you developed a taste for loud music and to no one’s surprise, I find it quite distressful.

As you may or may not know, I have a strong distaste for noisy neighbors.
The Right to Quiet Enjoyment: I hate noisy people


Normally I would utilize 311 and be done with it. However, I realize that could cause a tremendous amount of collateral damage certain parties involved. As tempting as it maybe, I have decided to forgo any use of law enforcement even though I would be ensured silence at least till the next tenant takes your place.

What I am going to do instead is to work within the parameters of the building and let the system do its job. It will take far longer and require more patience on my part. But I think it will be worth it in the long run.


So why this sudden change in my demeanor? Why am I not demanding your still beating heart to be gripped in my hands?

It is very simple.

I forgive you.

Yep. You heard me. I forgive you. And every time you blast that bass to ass shaking levels, I will still forgive you. It will be hard to do at times, but I will make the effort.

I want to make this clear. This isn’t about you. It is about me. I can’t function with pain and anger in my heart and I do not want to live like that. In the past I have stewed in my own anger, but I am getting older and perhaps wiser and realizing that there is no benefit to harbor such poison in my mind, body and soul. The act forgiveness allows me to let go whatever evil there is my heart.

I will admit to you that I do harbor pity for you. For someone who needs to stimulate themselves in that manner without regard to others around them displays a great shallowness and no desire for self-improvement. That shallowness is an opening to more negative and more dangerous consequences.

What I find quite surprising about you is your background because it is quite similar to one of my last neighbors who engaged in an audio tet le tete with me

Comeuppance

How are things working out for him? I don’t know, in fact I do not want to know because I might want to cut my wrists. An look at all those big swinging dicks on Wall Street. They swing no longer because their dicks have been cut off by their own hands. Since you have witnessed these events up front, I have no idea why it has not humbled you.

That is why I am baffled by the way you are acting since in this economy you are an endangered species. Any moment now you could be given a pink slip and a box to fill clean out your desk with. If you are acting like this in your own apartment, I have no doubt that you are exhibiting this same behavior to your co-workers and perhaps to someone that holds your fate in their hands.

Which brings me to that quote from Epictetus that was posted at the beginning of this entry.

I am no saint. I have made more than my fair of mistakes and even through my own limited understanding of how the universe works; I know that I will have to pay for them. So I try to be a good person and at best I will minimize the mistakes I make in my life.

That is why I have to remind myself that it is in my best interest to be a good person and not despise those who have evil intentions in their heart because they will eventually be asked to pay for that bill for what they have done, with interest.

In other words, you have screwed yourself over. So there is no point in me getting angry or demanding vengeance, because justice will be served. Even if is on the time table of a higher power, I am fine with that.

As you may know from reading my entries, you are not the first to plague me, there were plenty of others and it always confounded me, why was this always happening to me?

I realize now that God, Allah, Buddha, the universe, random chance or who or whatever, placed me in this position to learn. Once I am thoroughly educated, I am will be prepared to fight the next battle. I hope for your sake you become aware of what you are doing and the impact it has on others. If not. Well, I have no sympathy for you when you sit in the mine field.

This new environment we are living in now has made it clear to me that what is at stake is not our money but our humanity. It is very easy for all of us to reduce ourselves to savages and it would be untreatable. I can’t live like that and I will not contribute to the problems of the world. I hope you are willing to do the same.

If this is still hard for you to understand, then may I present to you the words of Mr. Miyagi regarding bull soup.

The Bull

Watch from 51 seconds to 2:30