TWO DOORS DOWN
Christmas Eve day, 2:00 pm, I heard a dog barking incessantly from a subdivision near my neighborhood. 4:00 pm, still barking. I wondered if there was a problem. I wasn’t annoyed. I was concerned. 5:00 pm, still barking. I knew something was wrong. Did a thief break into someone’s house, leave a door open and now their pets have gotten out? Is it a stray that needs help? I put on a jacket and walked to the subdivision. It was dark and I could see 3 dogs running around between the houses. There were lights on in most of the houses and I could see people inside. One house had an open garage door so I rang the door bell. No one was home. The dogs were now following me, so I was certain they were from this house. I concluded that when this family left, they forgot to close the garage door and the dogs got out. I walked to the neighbor’s house & rang the doorbell as the houses are less than 7 feet apart. The owner came to the door. I asked if she knew the dogs. “Yes”, she politely responded. “Have you heard them barking for the last 3 hours?” I asked. Yes, she had. “Did you go outside to see if something was wrong?” I asked. “No.” Can you believe it… No! For 3 hours neighbors heard barking and never stepped 2 feet onto their porch to see what was going on! Why wouldn’t they check on their neighbors’ house & dogs? When I asked them to help me get the garage door closed, they obliged. But, why didn’t they take any initiative themselves? I kept thinking to myself, there were 52 houses closer to this house than mine. A closer neighbor should have taken care of the situation. On my street, there is an unspoken code that you are responsible for the well being of neighbors 2 doors down in both directions and 2 houses across the street. Doesn’t everyone follow this code? If a dog is suspiciously barking within the 6 houses around yours, you look into it immediately. If a garage door is left open, you make certain the house, family and pets are OK. Close the door for them. I think it bothers me most that all of these people that did nothing were ‘nice’ people. Which leads me to write this blog. If you were not aware of the TWO DOORS DOWN rule, now you are. Take care of your neighbors and do not make people like myself take on your responsibilities. If you don’t like your neighbors, have an honest conversation: “Even though we do not care for each other, as a neighbor I will always see to it that you, your family, your pets and your home are safe. And I ask that you do the same for me.”
