I Didn’t Care When My Neighbour Died
In a world where you can be anything, be kind
My neighbour passed away during the summer of 2022. I didn’t feel sad, nor did I feel happy. I felt indifferent. I simply shrugged my shoulders and said, “Oh, okay”.
Early beginnings
My neighbour was a dedicated family man. He immigrated to Toronto from Guyana during the 90’s in order to ensure a prosperous life for his wife and two children. His wife fell ill some time during the early 2000’s, and could no longer physically work, thus making him the only breadwinner of the family.
Through hard work and dedication, he eventually started his own landscaping company and even bought a house in my neighbourhood. He quickly became infamous and incurred a bad reputation amongst the other neighbours for being a nosy, rude and disrespectful hothead.
Feuding with his neighbours
My neighbour acted as if he was some sort of king who could just simply bully everyone around. He would often stand on his driveway and flash dirty looks at the people walking or driving by.
He started fights with everyone, often over nonsensical and trivial things that made him irrationally angry. In one instance, he became so irate that he started yelling expletives at a bunch of roofers for being “too loud”. When they finished, he angrily yelled, “Don’t come here anymore!”.
He constantly butted heads with his 85-year-old neighbour Clinton. In another instance, Clinton was using a leaf blower to clear leaves from his driveway, angering my neighbour for being “too loud”. The two of them then got into an expletive-laced screaming match.
The following day, my neighbour and his son installed several home security cameras on their property, with one pointed directly at Clinton’s house and driveway. “Don’t these idiots have anything better to do with their lives than harassing a senior?”, I thought to myself.
I always found it hypocritical that he would get angry about noise when his annoying, little dog would literally bark at all hours of the day.
My neighbour’s son
My neighbour’s son was just like his father: condescending, obnoxious and rude. I remember waking up one day to hear him angrily arguing with a lady who lived next door. When he realized he was losing the argument, he resorted to calling her “dumb”, “an idiot”, and a “f***ing slut”.
In another instance, he threw a large rock at two cats that were on the street in front of his house.
Mistreating his employees
My neighbour was a huge narcissist with an overinflated ego. He thought he was better than everyone just because he owned a landscaping company and two pickup trucks. Truth be told, he was an asshole to his own overworked employees. He would constantly yell and berate them.
I remember one instance when an employee was clearly struggling with loading a heavy lawn mower onto a pickup truck. Instead of helping him, he lividly yelled, “Hurry the f*** up! You’re f***ing slow”.
Bullying me
I used to skateboard as a teenager, which angered my neighbour for some reason. I remember skating past his house once, and he retorted, “Why the f*** is there a kid rollerblading on the street?”, followed by numerous F bombs and other expletives.
He would get angry whenever he saw me. One time as I was walking home from school, he walked within 10 meters of me and just stared at me menacingly, as if he was trying to intimidate me. I ignored him and he got noticeably angrier. “I’m not scared of you and that disgusting beer belly of yours”, I thought to myself.
Lesson: be kind
Prior to his death, he never apologized to anyone for his behaviour. Nobody seemed to have liked him, or even care that he died. He’s since been reduced to an afterthought.
My neighbourhood has been quite peaceful and quiet ever since he and his dog died. His son keeps to himself, and I’d like to believe that his father’s death had taught him to be kind to others.
I guess the point that I’m trying to make is to be kind because people are attracted to positive energy. It costs nothing to be kind and it can mean everything to another person.
Treat others with the same respect, compassion and dignity that you would like to be treated. People are more likely to remember you and celebrate your life if you were kind and had a positive impact on their lives.
