Where Did I Go Wrong?

I am upset. People in my street think that I am crazy. But I don't think so. I think that I am being blamed for being prudent and logical. Here is what happened.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed scattered dry leaves on my backyard. I don't have any large trees on my property, and I know that they came from some where else. My neighbor told me that it was Peter's kid's who created this mess while I was in the office. Peter lives across the street from my house.

I confronted Peter about it, and he asserted that his children have nothing to do with the leaves in my backyard. I knew that he was lying. I complained to the police about it, and police made a formal investigation. They didn't find any wrong doing by Peter's kids. I didn't trust the cops. I was mad and I decided to take the law into my own hands. My friends told me to take it easy, but I thought that it would be wimpy of me to stay put.

I happen to be a proud owner of a backhoe. I like these machines and I bought this by spending big bucks (I lease it to construction contractors and make money off of it).

I was enraged at Peter and I put my backhoe to use to get even with him. One day, I scooped up a huge pile of dirt from my backyard, and dumped it on his front yard where he had nice flower beds, bushes, and plants. They were crushed under the pile of rubble I dumped. I was so mad that I did that a few more times and destroyed his lawn.

He was yelling at me all the time and I just ignored his complaints and did what I wanted to do. Knowing my A type personality, he realized that calling cops would do him no good in the long run. They would take down a complaint, start a formal investigation, and the case would go on for ever. He realized that I could inflict physical harm to him while the investigation is underway. He is an older guy with a frail body.

So, he decided to cleanup the soil pile by himself. He started shovelling the dirt and carrying it to his backyard, scoop by scoop. He worked on it couple of hours every day, for a week; he didn't even make a dent on the huge pile that I made with anger and pride.

Early this week, to my embarrassment, I realized that his kids had nothing to do with the dry leaves in my backyard. I didn't know how to deal with this shocker. To fix things up, I promptly hired a part-time handy man (70-year old guy), gave him my shovel, and asked him to help Peter in cleaning up the soil. They are working on it now as fast as they can.

In the mean time, my neighbors started complaining about what I did, and are bugging me to fix the neighborhood (i.e., by clean Peter's property) ASAP. They are being pretty vocal with their concern. I don't understand as to why they are being so pushy with me. It is not that I don't want to take responsibility. I am doing what I can!

To begin with, Peter's children are not exactly angels. I do know that they mess things up around the neighborhood. How could I possibly have guessed that they didn't spoil my backyard, given their track record? There was no other possibility that I could think of at that time.

I think that my neighbors are not treating me fairly. It all happened because of Peter. He is not cleaning up his property fast enough, and that is causing me trouble. Lately, he is dragging his feet with one excuse or another for not working on the pile on his property.

I think I should some how drive him off of my neighborhood. May be the new owner will take care of the mess a little better? My neighbors strongly disagree with my thoughts and actions, and I think that they need to grow up. This is not the first time for this kind of thing to happen in history!

Look at Mr. Bush. He did the exact same thing that I did! At least, my actions didn't physically harm anyone. He killed half a million people in the name of freedom, and he is a free man roaming around the world in Air Force One, with hundred million Americans firmly standing behind him (33% approval rating). Why don't I see a single person supporting me, even though I am in a similar situation? I tell you, we sure are living in a crazy world.

OK, I made this up. I don't own a backhoe either. I never wrote stories. I started typing this in an attempt to construct a simple analogy to Mr. Bush's logic (a contradiction in terms!) and events in Iraq. Sure, Mr. Bush is yet to officially criticize Mr. Maliki (PM of Iraq). But it is clear that he is expecting Mr. Maliki to do in one year, what he could not do with 150,000 troops, air force, navy, unmanned drones, and stealth fighters in three years.

Mr. Bush must understand that he created the mess and he must take care of it without whining. Or, he must admit his fault and step down. We all know that he cannot take care of it, as he IS the problem. He caused an irreversible damage. He caused half-a-million deaths and ruined a country. Isn't it brutal for a foreign power to remove a leader for causing 150 deaths, take his place, and kill 500,000 people? How can we expect the Iraqis to like the US? If Saddam is a bad guy, it is their internal problem. May be only dictatorship works in that region. They should have the liberty to gradually evolve into a democracy (if they choose so), at their own pace.

This is not to criticize the whole US. I think that the United States is a wonderful country (God bless the USA). Though it is not perfect, rest of the world must realize the positive contributions made by this great nation. Like many bumper stickers say, "We don't have to like Bush to love our country". There are many anti-war protesters and their voices are not being heard. In addition to Iraqis, Mr. Bush killed 3,000 + young US soldiers and caused physical disability to many more. I think he should be tried in the Hague for his war crimes along with Mr. Rumsfeld.