Neighbors are Jerks

Okay, so that's a fairly broad generalization. Let's face it, not all neighbors are jerks. Plus, when I say neighbors I mean those that live in your grand neighborhood; not the concept that only those immediately around you are your neighbors.

Let me take a minutes to introduce myself. My name is Aaron T. Huss. I'm a father of six (to be explained later), a devoted husband, a career engineer, a geek, a tabletop gamer, and an independent publisher and writer. I love to write and I always seem to have something on my mind and wanted a place to let it out. Thus, I started a blog like many others out there. Why? To share my thoughts and start conversations. Not to troll for responses; I prefer actual conversations and debates, not internet screaming. (You know, with capital letters.)

Yes, I am a father of six. My wife and I have five at home and I have one from a previous marriage that lives with his mother and is starting his senior year this year. I'm only 36... so do the math. Our newest bundle of joy, girl #4, was born on August 8 (as in, 10 days ago August 8) and I am currently on paternity leave working half days for a couple weeks. This leads me to my first blog post.

Why are neighbors jerks? Honestly; beats the hell out of me. I think a better question is why are there so many jerk offs in the United States? But then, what makes someone a jerk? Well, that's in the eyes of the beholder, but I'm more than willing to generalize my thoughts.

First, when someone knowingly and willingly breaks the rules, gets caught, and then argues and yells that they're in the right and the person enforcing the rules is in the wrong is a jerk; at least in my mind. These type of people think they're so special or privileged or something that they're almost above-the-law and don't have to follow the same rules that everyone else does. Then, if you call them out in the rule breaking, you look like the bad guy because they obviously have the right to do something wrong. My kids do that too, but that's because they're kids and not grown adults. Grown adults know better... at least you think they'd know better.

Second, someone that throws insults at someone else just because they "don't get it" makes them a jerk. When you live a life full of ridiculous shit like some of us have, you can go ahead and joke about things. However, when you don't understand why we do the things we do, don't think that you can insult us for them; that makes you a jerk. Again, children do that because they don't always understand right from wrong. Adults should know better.

Third, someone that makes snide remarks to make themselves feel better; that's what a jerk does. It's one thing to make comments to your significant other while in the privacy of your own regarding someone you saw earlier that day; it's something completely different to yell out these remarks indirectly to most likely make you feel better. I'm not going to get into the reasons why someone would do this, because that's a pretty long list.

Fourth is entitlement; which kind of sounds like the first one, but goes a little further. For instance, why is it that the jerk driving the BMW thinks it's necessary to put himself and the drivers around him in danger by weaving in and out of traffic while talking on the phone? It's almost as if he feels entitled just because of the car he's driving. I had a guy once that wanted to get in line in front of me at Subway while I was nearing the end of ordering simply because he had no patience and couldn't teach his son any patience either. He felt entitled to going in front simply because his order was smaller. Last time I checked, fast food restaurants were first in, first out. You wait in line just like everyone else. However, I will say that it's one thing to ask to move ahead in line when someone else is waiting in that same line and it's completely different when the person is already over halfway through ordering. "Um, hey jerk, why don't you wait like everyone else has to? Besides, I'm almost finished and you should teach your son the quality of patience."

So, go ahead, tell me about your jerk encounters...