In the wrong part of town...

Ok... I know I had this post in the recent past about how there are good things in this neighborhood, and about how those good things should be appreciated and not overlooked... bla bla bla. But I think Manolo had it right the other day when we talked about how things go down around here. His words were: "The people we don't like aren't wrong! They live their lives the way they want to. WE are in the wrong place. WE are the exception here, and WE don't fit in."
Sadly... he is right.
It got to the point where the smallest things bother me so much that I just want to scream at people. I walked out our front door the other day early in the morning, and the first thing I saw (and almost stepped into) was a huge pile of dog poop right by our steps. I had to go to work, and just left it there. In the evening I came home (poop still there, of course), got our two princesses and went for a walk. While walking I thought to myself: "I will NOT pick it up. Manolo and I know it's there and won't step into it, and I will make the conscious decision to not care about anybody else stepping into it either." As we got back to our front door, and as I searched for the right key, some idiot walked past me and said: "You will pick this up, right?" I just looked at him with a smile and asked: "Does this mountain of SH** look like it came out of a lap dog?" - and went inside.
We are the good ones here. We do nothing to piss people off, and it just baffles me when the same people that screw up this town suddenly decide that they have to open their mouths and "preach" about doing "the right thing".
The other day our friend Christine had a run in with one of her neighbors, just to wake up the next day and find the glass of her storm- door smashed in.
The number of break ins have gone up, and it is altogether just not a safe place to be. So again - erase my previous writings about "the good sides of the hood" from your memories, and forget I ever wrote it.
On my walk a few days ago, I passed three cops who were in the middle of arresting this guy one block over from where we live. The guy's girlfriend was frantic, calling people on her cell... the guy's friend was trying to tell the cops some story that involved the words "misunderstanding" and "mistake" and all the usual stuff, which obviously didn't get them far. That block is a mess, and a constant problem zone. Since Fiby needs at least two rounds around the corner, I passed the scene a second time - by then the police was gone and the remaining residents of the house were left behind, saying things like "damn... that was close!" and "... but the mothafu*** still owes me 50 bucks". Days passed and I forgot about the incident, until I walked down the same street again the following week and saw the "happy family" reunited on their stoop. I was already past them on the opposite side of the street when I heard someone yell:"Hey... tall guy"! I turned around to look at the group, when the friend of the arrested guy screamed:"Look...! We got him back!"
I am not sure what the most unsettling part of this situation was. Was it the fact that those cracked out people can basically do anything over there? Was it that to them getting arrested is really nothing BIG? Was it that they included me in their group, assuming I would care about how the story ended? And what the hell was I supposed to answer? "Oh... good! I was worried! Now I can sleep again!?" Or maybe: "Did you get your 50 back?"
The sad thing is though, that I feel that for our safety it is a bonus for me to be "included" in their daily lives. I would love to just ignore them or tell them off, but how long after that and before one of our windows is smashed in!?
Too bad; I really like our little house and our little back yard. But it is not worth risking our safety. I guess we'll have to stick it out a little longer, but as soon as we can we will pack our stuff and move - like most "none addicts", "none criminals" and "none prostitutes" have done before us. We gave it a try... we really did. We put pink lights on our tree on the side walk for the Holidays, for crying out loud! BRIGHT PINK. That's trying!!!