Today and yesterday I tried mowing neighbors yards for free.

[part man all 86]

Last edited Mon Aug 6, 2012, 12:35 PM - Edit history (2)

Why because they needed help. I am not a nice guy, so please do not think any different. I am evil, yes evil but I am trying to change.
For the last five years I have been a recluse and because of DU, I am slowly shedding this skin. I have been so angry for the last 5 years that I stayed in my dwelling and rarely go outside, this angry is not politically related. No reason to live, stagnant. Yeah pathetic. So helping someone that I did not like could spark my reason to live another day.
It did not go well yesterday even though I swallowed some of my pride. Not an easy task for a belligerent fool such as me. I am 52 years old college educated minimum wage idiot. But my whole life I have hated the mindset of conservatives. Well I thought I knew the neighbor to be teabilly, but he is really liberatian. Quote; If after making sure I cover my family with all the essentials, if I have any money left over I will help only friends. Not strangers, not another neighbors, not another countrypersons, just his family and friends. He is against minimum wage, any tax, unions, share the wealth, and many other non-selfish practices. It pissed me off and I went off, but shortly I realized I am talking to a brick wall. I stopped. His yard has not be mowed for a month because he was on vacation. Tall as the day is long. I finished helping him and we talked about Peru and Subarus. He thank me and filled my gas tank in the mower. I went home feeling I wronged him. Maybe I was a little headstrong and verbal. I cursed my tongue.
Today a different story. My neighbor behind me has a pool and it noisy motor until this year permeated my house. Many times I cursed his hide This year the pool pump is a little quieter. I ask him why and he is as puzzled as I was. Well I saw two weeks ago that he was struggling mowing his yard but when I noticed this he was nearly finished. But today I saw him and I raced to the lawn mower and ran to help. It turned out to be a three hour adventure in salesmanship, his. Kind and grandfatherly. After offering to mow for free and his acceptance, we finished and talked for hours. He is 68 and from Asheville NC, and wishes to retire but can't. Yeah you know why, conjobs and their hate for the average joe and not creating real jobs bill or shore up SS.. None of my neighbors are aware of the what democratic party has done for them and I am not surprised here in the south, even I thought both were bad not too long ago. He works at a hospital along with his wife to make ends meet. We have one thing in common, military service, his during vietnam and my in the mid 80's. He was mp and I was 19 kilo(m-1 abrams tank, a DAT(dumbass tanker)). His wife is suffering from fibromyalgia same as my girlfriend(american indian and scottish or irish blood suffer more than any other group; both are indians). Anyway he paid me 20 dollars, I protested but he did not accept my say. To avoid awkwardness I gave in. Both neighbors paid me for work I offered free.
What did I learn. I do not know, but I had a smile on my face as I pushed the mower home. God bless the world!

It is 12:17 pm est monday and I am lost for words. All I did was what my parents and teachers (especially Mrs. Young my 6th grade teacher in Leisure City, Fla.) taught me, to show compassion. Yes getting out of the house is hard, but not like in Pontiac Moon where Mary Steenburgen's character, Katherine Bellamy is terrified and afraid. Funny I do not even drive anymore like her. A good movie. Again thanks.

[sadbear]

1. Peace.

[skeewee08]

72. Nice story

Thank you for sharing

[Zalatix]

2. Donate some of the money to a LIBERAL charity.

Sometimes you can still shove the knife in there while being nice about it.

[TuxedoKat]

3. Good for you

for reaching out to your neighbors. I'm sure they appreciated it.

[kimbutgar]

4. Sweet story that warms my soul

[FirstLight]

5. hey, that's pretty cool

thanks for sharing and thanks for even TRYING to do something to move yourself out of the box of angst you have been saddled with. I appreciate your small gesture even more for it. Lots of reasons to be depressed and feel like nothing can be done these days....but the little helping things are still there, and they make our hearts bigger incrementally...

[freshwest]

7. +1

[physioex]

6. Filling up your tank....

After you cut his yard is not really payment, just covers yours capital expenditure. The twenty dollars maybe depending on how much fuel you spent cutting his yard.

[part man all 86]

8. Thank you all, I am in tears from your love and kindness.

[sabrina 1]

12. You did a wonderful thing. And I love how you wrote about it.

[greytdemocrat]

70. I am too...

but for other reasons.

[SheilaT]

9. It is my belief that we are here to help each other.

I don't subscribe to normal, conventional beliefs, but I do believe, almost to the point of fanaticism, that we are here to help each other.

It is very easy to get caught up in thinking things like, "I'm better than that person" or "that person's beliefs are not good" or many of the myriad ways we separate ourselves from others.

You did a good thing.

[midnight]

10. Beautiful-thanks for the smile...

[Rose Siding]

11. I'm glad you got there

A little different I guess but when I'm blue, even though I know that doing something for someone else will make me healthier, it's hard to get all the way to the activity itself. - Being sad (or angry) takes so much energy. I eventually overcome it and it always helps.

Good for you.

[xtraxritical]

37. Don't stay blue, but vote Blue!

[renate]

13. good for you!

It can be really tough to change the habits of a lifetime (or a long time) and it is very courageous of you to take steps to break out of your shell.

Making human connections--especially when we don't have a natural affinity for the people we reach out to--is difficult but so rewarding; it can expand our horizons so much, and can make such a difference to our feelings about being in the world. But again, as good as it feels afterwards, it's difficult to get out there and do... you're brave! I hope you enjoyed it enough to keep on doing it!

Good for you, and keep up the great work!

[Le Taz Hot]

14. Good for you for making

a conscience effort to evolve despite your pain. THAT, my friend, takes much courage.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

15. Doing a good thing makes you feel good.

[marlakay]

16. We are mowing the lawn of our next door neighbor we dislike very much

He drives us crazy with his Rush and Fox views, his wife screaming at us over the medical thing a few years ago. But he was in motorcycle accident a few weeks ago (he is almost 70, overweight, afraid of motorcycles…he had no business buying one last summer…nuts!!!)

Anyway my husband and another neighbor (both democrats and non church people) are mowing the lawn, probably for a very long time since his doctor says even if he does everything right it will be two years to heal….(and we all live out in the country and each person has an acre so its not a small lawn…)

I am hoping this accident will change them. Already his wife is acting different and very grateful to us.

I am just glad she can see, real charity doesn't take being a christian….

[part man all 86]

19. You are right about that charity is not a christian monoploy. It is the human thing to do.

Ghandi, many American Indians chiefs and even Karl Marx has shown me that.

[AllyCat]

32. I find this statement profound. You are certainly no part of an "idiot".

Thank you for your post. I'm glad to hear you are reaching out and wish you well. Peace.

[part man all 86]

33. Thank you or wado in cherokee.

[Beartracks]

20. "real charity doesn't take being a christian"

True.

Ever notice how a lot of Christians (well, the rightwing kind, and there are a lot of them) seem to favor social/political policies that will keep the poor... poor? Because then they (the rightwing Christians) can donate to charity to help the poor, thereby 1) getting a tax break, and 2) feeling good about giving to the poor. But if you express an interest in social/political policies that would reduce poverty and reduce the NEED for charity to support all those poor people, then the rightwing Christian will think that is a BAD idea.

Huh?

It's like holding bake sales at church so Timmy's family can pay for his surgery is somehow a good, honorable thing. By itself, it is. But what about all the other Timmys?? What if we had a society where all the Timmy's could get that surgery without requiring their families to pin their hopes on selling enough cupcakes to make it happen?

For that matter, charity as a matter of policy has a couple of things wrong with it: 1) it's voluntary, so it might not happen; 2) it's subjective, so that the givers only donate to causes they deem "worthy"; and 3) in light of the points 1 and 2, charity is thus unreliable.

Okay, sorry. Random post is random. Been a long day.

==========================

[HiPointDem]

25. +1

[Beartracks]

17. Fibromyalgia

"american indian and scottish or irish blood suffer more than any other group"

Is there someplace online I can find info on this tidbit?


btw, your OP story sounds like an incredible experience. Your neighbors probably thought you were only helping them, but you came away a bit changed yourself.


===================

[part man all 86]

22. I'm sorry but what I know about fibromyalgia is from my girlfriend, who would happily give you infro

She is asleep right now. 12:32 am here in sevierville tennersee.(spelled the way i said it as a kid).

[reflection]

57. Went to Sevierville last year.

Wish I'd known you were there. Would have liked to shook your hand and buy you the beverage of your choice. Thank you for helping to make the world a nicer place.

[Booster]

18. If you even sort of enjoyed talking to them buy a six-pack & offer them a beer. It's hot and

from one man to another I think it's a grand gesture. Has been known to make life-long friends. Good luck and I hope everything turns around for you. You're still young so don't write yourself off. You're a good man.

[part man all 86]

34. wado my new neighbor.

[dballance]

21. I'm so proud of you.

You were right to accept the money finally. It is a matter of pride for you neighbors. So put it aside and use it to buy more gas and oil for the lawn mower for future efforts.

Sounds like not only are you trying to change you ARE changing.

[part man all 86]

23. Exactly, those courses in culture anthroplogy paid off.

[steve2470]

24. This is really a wonderful story

You may touch a few souls here, so please feel good about that, also

[part man all 86]

26. To tell you the truth I was afraid to post and I still do not know what possessed me to do it.

Really I sat here for awhile after it was done wondering if I should post(first post on a forum), I think the soldier took over.

[Smilo]

30. So glad you did -

you should be very proud of yourself for stepping out of your safety zone and you are now an inspiration to many of us.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

45. you made me happy!

I love what you did! I will try and put your lesson into practice myself--Not easy when it's someone you don't like!!! I'll think of you, next time I have a choice like that in front of me.

I also tend to isolate, so I know how hard it can be to push yourself to step out of it.

So wonderful to read you!

(I know (knew?) someone who was a soldier---he's my ex and I am so sorry that he has not been able to come to the place YOU have taken yourself. He chooses a path of deep pain, anger, isolation, projection...and alcohol.)

[NYC_SKP]

27. Thank you!

A lovely retelling of your day and your life, and it is much appreciated and a joy to read.

Please post more often, if you can.

[sueh]

28. Good on you:) You did a hard thing reaching out like that. (((hugs)))

[yewberry]

29. Well, now, you just taught me something.

Tennesseans are a lot more like New Englanders than I believed.

I may live in the Pacific Northwest now, but I'm a dyed-in-the-wool yankee, having grown up in MA and NH. My family is Scots & Native American, too. No matter how much we might disagree or feud with neighbors, the grass has to be cut. The driveways have to be plowed. Icedams have to be cleared. Better to work together than to struggle alone, or worse.

Sure, we might disagree 'til the cows come home, but when the power goes out, when there's a blizzard or a thunderstorm, when the roads are impassible, when the elderly neighbor's henhouse needs work, you just show up and do it, regardless of who they're voting for.

Working toward the greater good is always a powerful thing. Keep fighting the good fight.

[KBlagburn]

31. God Bless

[mountain grammy]

35. Thanks for sharing

nothing feels as good as extending a hand to a friend or neighbor in need. Improving someone else's life, improves our own.

[Rhiannon12866]

36. K&R! Wonderful story and thank you so much for sharing it with us!

And a belated welcome to DU, part man all 86! It's great to have you with us!

[reeds2012]

38. Good story. Enjoyed reading it. EOM

[Iwillnevergiveup]

39. Well, Part Man all 86

you made a lot of new friends today, and not just the ones who live close by. Please drop in for another visit. Soon.

Waving from L.A.

[part man all 86]

40. Wado LA neighbor and may fortune shine on you. And wado to everyone else. I am humbled.

[murielm99]

41. Thank you for this post.

Right now, I am trying to do the same thing you are doing: get past my anger and hurt, and stop being a recluse. I am glad you are succeeding. This is painful stuff. You have courage. I don't.

[Kalidurga]

42. It is very difficult to stop being a recluse...

someday I might stop myself. Thanks for giving me something to think about.

[KT2000]

43. Love this -

that was a huge thing you did - and I am not talking about the lawn mowing.
Thanks for the post.

[ClayZ]

44. Congrats, for making it outside the BOX!

If you are in, you are in, but once you are out... You are out!

[ananda]

46. So many people are just so tribal.

Good to their own, hateful toward others.
That's just about my entire Texas family.
I'm so glad my mother was Irish Catholic
from California... always smiling and never
knew a stranger.

[malaise]

47. Nice post part man all 86

You made me smile

[sagetea]

48. You must be the change you want to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi

Perfect, this is the way you do it! Thank you! You sound like my husband, he is a mean old man, to what he calls "stupid people" that vote against themselves. So He has decided to do Transcendental Meditation, it's making him a happier person!

Good luck, and keep up the fight!

Ho
sage

[ileus]

49. Thanks for sharing...

I mowed my new neighbors yard 12 times until she got a mower last fall and this spring.

12 hours I donated just because she's a single mother and a good woman loved by everybody in her church...life is hard it's up to each of us to make it and the world a better place.

[HappyMe]

50. That's so nice. You did good, dude.

Glad to see you are coming out of your shell a bit.

Peace and good health to you and yours.

[xchrom]

51. I think you're officially a Mensch! And that's a good thing to be. Nt

[LiberalLoner]

53. I agree! +1

[raouldukelives]

52. Nicely done!

Only through enlightening others can we enlighten ourselves. Thanks for sharing. It brightened my morning!

[mac56]

54. You rock.

You're a good example to us all.

[Chemisse]

55. Such a good example of how helping other people actually helps yourself even more

It also shows tolerance, a willingness to find out what you have in common with others rather than dwell on political differences.

We are all in this life together.

[DonRedwood]

56. This worked for me...

I felt very removed from my neighbors so I planted flower beds in the very front of my yard and I sort of made a bouquet for the whole neighborhood--but now I have to go out and tend to it. And now all of the people who walk by with dogs say hello, and all the moms with kids say hello, and they comment on the flowers. I get so much good energy from them!

Some of the little girls across the street like to come over and smell the flowers so I've met them and all their parents now. If you give yourself a reason to stand in your front yard for a few hours a week it will change how you view everyone around you! (some for the worst but most for the way better!)

Thanks for mowing and helping. If you know any widows on your blocks, they always appreciate acts of kindness. :0)

[Ednahilda]

58. Your example speaks louder than Fox Noise.

I suspect that a lot of the people who call themselves conservatives haven't really given it any deep thought; they've been sucked in by the propaganda. Too many of them start to believe that non-conservatives are deficient humans, freeloaders, cheats . . . and in your actions, however small they may seem to you, these folks are seeing and hearing a completely different narrative. Good for you!

[Mapletonian]

59. Good for you!

I understand where you're coming from.

[Wait Wut]

60. Congratulations!

What a brave and unselfish way to overcome your anger. I went through a brief period of 'hibernation' a few years back. It isn't easy to get out of the pattern.

[onlyadream]

61. Very touching

I think, when one feels empty, the act of giving fills them up. I'm glad you, OP, experienced this. Maybe your life will make a turn and this will be the start of many smiles as you make your way home.

[steve2470]

62. kick for more good vibes nt

[MissMarple]

63. Giving freely is a good thing.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

64. Thank You for this post

When I first started reading I thought you crawled inside my head.

But that was then and this is now.

Forgetting peoples beliefs and just treating them as people that are there, helped me out.
You are not an evil person otherwise you would have never had the thought to help others.

Remember "We are where we are supposed to be, at the time we are supposed to be there."
You listened to the fabric of life and responded.

Thank You again!

Namaste.

[BabbaTam]

65. good on ya!

Bless ur pea pickin' heart! You know, I believe heaven and hell exist out there side by side. I think you made the heaven part show up a little brighter with your lawn mower.

[Curmudgeoness]

66. You are "not a nice guy".

I am glad that you are working to change. I have also been spending more time meeting my neighbors, who I have totally ignored most of the time. Sadly, I tried to do the same thing that you just did---mow the neighbor's property that backs up to my backyard. It has not been mowed yet this year, although he always did it in the past. He told me not to step foot on his property. And up until now, we have always waved if he was mowing and I was out back. Ouch! Glad yours went well...and that it made you feel good.

Before you know it, you will be a nice guy! Oh no!

[EverHopeful]

67. Thank you for posting this.

I heard somewhere that witnessing kindness can release endorphins as much as bestowing or receiving an act of kindness can. Thanks for the kindness you offered your neighbors and for the kindness of sharing it with us.

[Bobcat]

68. Thanks

Thank you for recognizing a teacher for teaching you something not in the curriculum. How to be a caring human being!

[valerief]

69. What a cool story. You're living proof you catch more bees with honey. Good luck with your

newfound gregariousness.

[jaysunb]

71. There's a saying about poor Republicans...

they're just misinformed Democrats.

Wlecome to DU.

[MrBiker]

73. You did a random act of kindness!

Thanks for making the world a better place.

I'm always amazed at people who are financially well-off giving up X-Mas and Thanksgiving with their family to serve hot meals to the homeless. Every one of them says it's the best thing they've ever done on their holidays. And they do it every year.

You didn't wait for the holiday season.

Your story warmed my heart.

Thanks.

PS: Keep it up and you may become one of the happiest people on Earth. With dozens of friends! You've certainly made a bunch here.

[southerncrone]

74. Conntecting to each other on an individual basis is the way.

When we experience each other on a one-to-one basis, seldom do we come away feeling hate.
The break down of our society began when we we started categorizing groups of people & took away their personal aspects. The Repugs have known this & used it against Americans for decades now. Time to undo their hate.
No longer speak of anyone in a group context....only as an individual; it will make all the difference in the healing of our society.


Thanks for sharing you experiences!

[Bluerthanblue]

77. so true-

[Liberal_in_LA]

75. kick. cool story

[liberal N proud]

76. Rewards are many for those who give freely

Good for you!

[Jackpine Radical]

78. I want to thank you for doing that.

First of all, you did yourself a lot of good. It was like loving-kindness meditation; actually, it was loving-kindness action. Mindfulness practitioners do that sort of thing for their own benefit because it helps them to become more compassionate, more aware, more awake in the present moment. In addition to what you did for yourself--confronting your own self-described reclusiveness, and acting in spite of it--you planted a small seed of humane perspective in each of them. A single experience like this might not make much difference in the heart of either of them, but enough experiences of this sort will.

In short, what you did was beautiful, and the world is sorely lacking in beauty these days. Every good action contributes to the good of all.

So, yeah. Thanks.

[Jamastiene]

79. I wish you were my neighbor.

My yard is incredibly hard to mow. I have paid people to mow it only to have them leave it unfinished with their tails between their legs. Some have run screaming for their lives after the ground hornets and red imported fire ants attacked them. This year, though, I finally found someone who knew how to get rid of the fire ants. It worked! After years of buying supposed sure fire fire ant insecticides, with none of them working, this guy puts very little of his stuff he uses in the yard, and those fire ants disappeared. I could not believe it.

What you did was nice. It never hurts to try to be nice to the neighbors. After all is said and done, good neighbors make for a good neighborhood and possibly good friends down the road. I tend to be one of those loner type neighbors. So, when I heard that my neighbors, who are pet owners, know I'm good to their animals when they visit me, it sort of made me feel good. It never hurts to try to be nice. Sometimes people may not appreciate it, but the reward is in the feeling of helping where, how, and when you can. Bravo.

[Bluerthanblue]

80. you did something nice for more than your neighbors-

thank you for sharing this with all of us.

[WillyT]

81. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

You Rock !!!

[live love laugh]

82. Babysteps. nt

[d_r]

83. I mowed my neighbors yard a few weeks ago

He's a good guy. He doesn't have a mower, and he wanted to borrow mine but it was broken. I borrowed my Aunt's, and after I was done with mine I just kept going through his. Later he brought me a bottle of wine. He had fixed a bike for the lady that was the wine distributor and she gave him a couple of bottles for it. Apparently it is expensive wine. There's good people out there.