"Love Thy Neighbor"

I am a likable guy. Really, I am. Easy going, slow to almost impossible to anger, and will do anything for a person, especially neighbors.

I live in a decent neighborhood on Padre Island in Corpus Christi. Surrounding us is a lot of open lots with tall grass as well as a ton of open over grown dunes and wildlife refuge land. Two blocks down from my house is a park with a concrete basketball court. This is Mecca for my dogs Ross and Riley. Ross is a rambunctious chocolate lab and Riley is a slightly more elegant standard poodle with a personality disorder. He thinks he is a baby rhinoceros. Everyday I take Ross and Riley in the morning and evening to the park to play ball. Ross could be an outfielder for any MLB team. He can catch anything you throw at him: high, hard, bounced, etc. Riley can't catch anything but he can run like the wind even if he is a rhinoceros. He brings it back to me sticking that rhino horn in my side, butt, ribs, anything he can till I take the ball and throw it again. Everyday, on the way to or back from the park Ross will do his "business" in the tall grass of an empty lot or in the dunes with the other wild life. He does this cause he is smart. He has never pooped in anyone's yard. He knows where to go. Riley, being with Ross almost four years now, picked up on this a few years ago and only goes where Ross goes. This makes it easier on me. I don't have to carry the dreaded plastic bag. Or so I thought.

This morning coming back from the park, a neighbor told me to make the dogs go somewhere else. "It just isn't right they go there," he said. He can smell it, or so he says. This area is over 70 yards from his house. I instantly wanted to give him a close up smell just to make sure he could identify it in a line up. As my blood boiled, I instantly pulled a WWJD. You know, "What would Jesus do?" The WWMD (What would Mel Do?) wanted to grab him by the neck and see how many shades of purple I could discover. But I decided Jesus would want me to love my neighbor. But seriously, does Jesus know this guy never has a shirt on? Does He know this guy sits in his garage chain smoking from daylight till dark surveying the neighborhood for law breakers? Does He know the old fart wood works on his table saw in his garage all day which he obviously doesn't thinks or cares it bothers his neighbors? Does He know this guy has two huge white dogs which sits in his drive way without a leash on intimidating anybody who dares walk by?

If Jesus knew all this, then I think He would say WWMD and let me discover new colors for the rainbow. But here I am trying to find reasons to "Love Thy Neighbor" while my blood pressure is bulging out my eyes. Welcome to My Black Cloud.