Quite innocently we might let someone into our house who isn’t there to be civil or friendly.  Sometimes they are itching for a fight yet come to your door with smiles on their faces.

Last week, this happened to my best friend.  Best Friend posted a birthday greeting to a relative, including an old photo of the family.  A neighbor decided to comment with a “Again, happy birthday Birthday Boy. I was the older brother, so I never wore “hand me downs”.  Have a great day, and say hello to my beautiful girl next door.”

Best Friend – and I – were bewildered.  There is no way in this universe that Neighbor and Birthday Boy could have every known each other.  So, Best Friend answered Neighbor’s comment with “I think you missed the meaning here, Neighbor.  Reading comprehension is important.”

Neighbor answer with an “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Then Neighbor proceeds to private message Best Friend.  Neighbor becomes aggressive with telling Best Friend he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  Neighbor claims Birthday Boy and some woman are dating each other.

I laughed.

Note:  Neighbor and Birthday Boy could not possibly know each other because Birthday Boy and Best Friend are siblings and grew up thousands of miles away from where Neighbor did.

Well, Neighbor continues to be aggressive.  He (Neighbor) tells Best Friend he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  Best Friend tells Neighbor that if Birthday Boy is dating some woman, it’s news to him because Birthday Boy is happily married.

This aggressiveness from Neighbor continued for hours – HOURS! – and Best Friend was aggravated at the constant bombardment of arrows and bombs from the evidently unhappy Neighbor looking for a fight.

The lesson here is to always be aware that someone you might know well just might be a harbinger of negatively and aggressiveness.

Don’t let that attitude into your home.  They really don’t have to physically knock on your door.  It could be a private message, text, email, telephone, and the like.

And here’s a side note:  Neighbor is the type of guy who is always fighting with someone in the neighborhood.  I will dish some more in a future post.

©2022 Colcannon Metropolis, excerpt from “Letters from The Ridge”