12:51pm By Scott Jones | A few years ago I was in my side yard picking up what amounted to five trash cans full of withered brown leaves. Typical Saturday afternoon yard work, except for one thing: They were not leaves from my tree. They were from my neighbor’s tree that had slowly grown over his property line and into mine.



After beginning the initial task of cleaning up, it took less than an hour to fill my Long Beach City trash cans to the brim. With a mound of detritus yet to be disposed of, I decided to take the rest of the leaves and put them in my neighbor’s can. Five minutes later, my neighbor came storming out of his house with an arsenal of curse words to fire at me and one irate question: “What are you doing putting those leaves in my trash can?!”



I responded, “These aren’t my leaves, they’re yours. They came from your tree.” I followed my line of reasoning with an example: “If your dog poops on my property is it magically now my poop?” Despite my best attempt at a logical train of thought, my neighbor didn’t want to hear it. The response was another barrage of cursing.



To ease the tension, I walked away and started transferring the leaves from his trash can into another neighbor’s bin, a neighbor whom I knew and was confident would not have a problem with it.



About ten minutes later my angry neighbor approached me again. To my surprise (and relief), the look on his face was sheepish. “I apologize for overreacting,” he offered. The tension between us immediately evaporated, and I thanked him for taking the time to apologize. I continued to clean up, grateful to put the jarring episode behind me.



This brief encounter got me thinking about a few things. My first thought was, Wow! That was really uncomfortable! Initially, I considered dumping all the offending leaves back over his fence. I certainly felt justified; after all, I was doing the work that he should have been doing and his response was to attack me. But his apology changed everything. Loving and respecting my neighbor was a conscious, and difficult, choice. I am glad that he apologized and took some responsibility for his actions, but the entire debacle was exhausting.



Another thought occurred to me: What if he didn’t apologize? In that event, what kind of bitterness would I have allowed to fester toward my neighbor? How long would we have persisted in resenting and ignoring one another because of something as trivial as tree leaves?



When it comes to the neighborhoods we live in, stories like this one are a dime a dozen. The cause of the conflict could be innocuous or intentional, the offenses as numerous as that pile of leaves I was forced to sift through. The fact remains that we often cling to grudges instead of dealing with them. Long Beach, it’s time to move past our enmity. It’s time to rise above the offenses and be good neighbors to one another.



Good Neighbor Day is a National holiday on Sunday, September 25th.  One of the purposes of the day is to take the time, take the first step, and forgive your neighbors. After all, forgiveness is healthy not only for both involved parties, but for the rest of the community as well. With your various grievances settled, Good Neighbor Day is also a day to celebrate with your neighbors. This celebration could take place through dropping off cookies at their home, having them over for a meal or having a neighborhood block party or BBQ. Your creativity is welcome! Please join with us as we mend our fences, lay aside our anger, and celebrate our Long Beach neighbors.