Stop That Noise!

I'm slowly getting convinced that the vast majority of people out there are becoming more crotchety the older they get. For whatever reason, people's tolerances for things have been on the decline in recent years and it's evidenced by the number of times they complain but also the manner in which they complain. We already know about the case of Judge Roy Pearson who tearfully reported in court that he and his neighbors (most of whom never used the dry cleaning company in question) were victims of false advertising by believing signs that guaranteed satisfaction and same day service. Maybe he was ticked at the fact that he wants it his way right away or maybe he was just having a bad day but this isn't the only case of inane cases being brought to the forefront.

Earlier this week a case in a New Jersey court was ruled upon in favor of the harassers as opposed to the harassees. In this case, the harassment in question was being done by a 5-year-old and 11-year-old pair of sisters in their backyard pool. In the course of what can only be considered normal play, the kids were squealing and that was apparently enough to enrage some neighbors that they complained to the parents and then took them to court for noise ordanance violations. Are you kidding me? Taking kids to court for being kids? I can understand if these kids were in the pool at 3:00 in the morning and were screaming or that they do it every single day or that it is accompanied by loud music but come on! Kids are kids and no matter what they are going to make noise. There are only a few kids I have ever encountered in my relatively short life that ever sit quietly for more than half an hour.

To feel compelled to take the kids to court to resolve the issue strikes me as being a case of having too much time on your hands and not a whole lot of sense. I have a neighbor who prattles around in the condo above mine at odd hours of the night. It took a little getting used to but soon the noises became a normal thing to me and it stopped bothering me. There were occasions where she began vacuuming and running her washing machine at 1:00 in the morning at which time I complained to her but after that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. For whatever reason, many people today are becoming much more insulated and self-centered in that they don't want anything to puncture their little shells of solitude.

What about the guy in Georgia who began calling a local airport which he lived near. He constantly complained that the noise from the low flying aircraft was bothering him and he began to regularly leave messages on the airport answering machine (it's a local airport for private planes) which eventually included threats to the effect that he would begin to shoot the planes down. Now only an idiot would make such a threat in this day and age. There are certain words which I hesitate to use in the vicinity of an airport these days lest some overzealous TSA agent take it to mean I am a terror suspect. To threaten to shoot down planes and then insist that it was only because you were frustrated is like making a bomb threat on a commercial airliner because you think your seatmate stinks.

When the people in New Jersey or Georgia moved into their respective homes I'm curious to know whether or not they knew what they were getting into. If you don't want kids anywhere close to you on the off-chance that they are making noise even louder than your five dogs (or so the New Jersey woman claimed) then you should look for an area where no one under the age of 55 is allowed to live. They have neighborhoods like that and they are bastions of silence save for the sound of garden sprinklers and the pitter patter of slow-moving arthritic feet along the sidewalk. Don't like airplane noise? Don't you think you should have checked to see what was in the area before settling in on a home? To buy a house close to a known airport and then complain about the noise is just stupid. If you know it ahead of time, you have nothing to complain against. The airport was there first and if you can't stand the noise, then move.

We could all do with a little more patience and understanding. Everyone is getting so stressed out these days that little things like this are liable to set them off at the drop of a hat. One can argue that these people who have complained have every right to complain and ensure that the space they live in allows them to enjoy every single minute in the very manner in which they want to enjoy it. I agree, were we living in a perfect world, I would say that that is exactly how life should be, but we don't live in a perfect world and unless we all begin to accept the occasional annoyance and then deal with it, we'll all turn crotchety real soon.