This happened back in June, but I just saw it last week in my news feed. It seems that a Missouri couple living seasonally (do we call that summering?) in Maine didn’t like the row of trees between their house and the neighbor’s house, so they poisoned the trees to get a better view. The house in front of them is right on the water, and this couple wanted to see the view. After the trees started to die, this super-wealthy woman offered to share the cost to remove them with the woman who owned the property. The homeowner investigated and found out that, in fact, an herbicide was the cause, and the perpetrators have, so far, paid $1.7 million in fines.
Then, I get a video on my newsfeed of a court case – one of those TV judges – about a guy who saw an apartment being worked on, realized the door was unlocked, and moved in, putting a personalized electronic lock on the door. Same judge: a man had been using his neighbor’s WiFi for 2 years, but when her costs started to go up, she put a password on it. He demanded, through notes and knocking on her door all day and night, that she give him the password. When she wouldn’t, he sued her! Or the guy who, when the pandemic was over, refused to stop parking in our church lot during the day (we allow overnight) because it was “his” parking spot. Same lot – a guy whose car we had put three notes on about snowplowing during the coming storm, blamed us when his car got damaged, and said to me – on the phone (I had never met him) – that I was doing this because he was black. Privilege knows no limits.
This kind of behavior is nothing new, but what I thought was interesting was that every single one of these people, after being caught, maintained that they were the wronged party. People steal and take advantage of others all the time, but to be caught red-handed and still maintain your innocence takes serious chutzpah. I’ve gotten tickets for speeding in the past, and when I have, I’ve hung my head and paid the bill. I keep the speed limit now – I can’t afford that lifestyle. And none of these perpetrators, by the way, was too poor to afford the cost of what they were stealing. Our parking lot offenders took advantage of our generosity in allowing them to park in our lot; they knew better.
I think we should all live generously, and when we are the beneficiaries of someone’s generosity, we should be grateful. When we expect or demand that the world give us things we don’t deserve or haven’t earned, we cross the line. Taking advantage or demanding special treatment is arrogant and miserly; that is when privilege happens. The world doesn’t owe us anything, so when someone or some entity is generous, be thankful. They just did you a favor. Pay it forward.
Prayer – Thank You, God, for Your generosity, which allows us to be generous in return. May we live each day this way. Amen.