Since January our front lawn has sported a sign advertising the Catholic grade school our Big Kids attend. It has a picture of the school, the phone number, and the slogan "Keep the Spirit Alive."
Those little metal racks that hold lawn signs are fairly flimsy and earlier this week I saw that our second rack was starting to break. Last night Big Brother mowed the front lawn, taking the sign down in order to do a neater job.
After dinner this evening our neighbors stopped by for a visit. As we all chased a wayward toddler around the corner of my house, I saw MY lawn sign in another neighbor's trash can!
Big Brother feels bad that he hadn't replaced the sign firmly enough.
But it's really not HIS fault.
The neighbors know whose sign it was. We're the only people on the block with one of these. It's been there for 6 months. Even if their landscaper was responsible, those guys park their truck in front of MY house every week, so I'm sure that even they must know whose sign it was.
These neighbors have spoken to us once in the 8 years we've been here, to complain just last winter that my kids threw a few snowballs that hit their house.
Thanks.
OK, now that I'm done with my rant, I guess I will need to do what I know to be the mature and Christian thing to do, and say a prayer for my neighbors. Sometimes it's a little hard to "love thy neighbor." But I guess that's when we need to do it the most.
By the way, I took the sign out of their trash. It's now in my family room window.
5 comments:
We had a horrible time a few years ago in Ft. Wayne when the city started enforcing signage laws that affected mostly Catholic school families who kept signs such as yours in their yards. It's always amazing how people want Catholics to be more tolerant and then they go and do the most intolerant things to Catholics.
Believe me, the sign is going back in my yard!! The wire frame it stood on is broken but I'm taking it to a sign shop and asking if they have something sturdier.
I am NOT afraid to show my school pride, and nothing these neighbors do will ever change that!
Good for you Barb! Take that high road! All too often, I opt out for the low road (force of habit from so many years as a bouncer), and immediately regret it.
You are not only making a good example for your children by acting in the spirit of St.Francis and St.Clare, you are making a good example for your next door neighbors, and for everyone who reads your blog to boot!
Thanks, Steve....
But does it count as "taking the high road" when I am still seething every time I see the sign? I want to say something to that neighbor. Good thing they're never home. Maybe that's God giving me the opportunity to keep my mouth shut!
Sure it counts, you're only human, as long as you continue to try and take the high road, you're doing ok.
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