well that was an interesting morning...

[Ace1432]

So i am sitting down, finally, for the first time in a few hours. i need to vent so heres the story.

our neighbors are mexican. they have 3 families living in one house. being so, there are ALWAYS kids outside making a racket and playing. They play soccer all over, in the middle of the road, they play full on basketball in their tiny driveway. their balls are always bouncing over and bumping into OUR house and our cars. we live in close proximity to our neighbors, prolly less than 30-40' between our houses, so yeah it is inevitable that young careless mexican children playing full on soccer are gonna end up hitting our house.
today there were 4 teenagers out there playing soccer; i had met 2 of them through a friend, so we were acquainted, i didnt know who the other two were. BUT ANYWAYS, my dad had left to grab something at the store and i heard them slamming their soccer ball into their own house and i heard it hit ours a few times. i had the thought to go out and tell them to cool it when my dad got back, but i was busy vacuuming my up my room.
so my dad ended up getting home and i had finished up vaccuming, so i was on my way to put the vacuum away when i heard their ball hit our livingroom window. my dad jumped out of his chair and bolted outside. i watched him run right up to one of the dudes and get RIGHT IN his face yelling and chest bumping the kid. next thing i know he has the dude by the throat and they started to wrestle around as the other dudes started to close in. i threw on my shoes and ran outside yelling. the kids i knew instantly backed off and told their buddy to aswell, they were like "yo your old man is crazy man! he went off on us, we dont want any trouble bro." sadly, i knew this because i saw the whole incident play out like it was on tv infront of me. i grab my dad and start telling him to get back into the house as i apologize to everyone.
the kid my dad was fighting with ran up on the deck and started talking smack to my dad, so my dad pushed past me and took his belt off and was trying to buckle whip the kid i grab my dad and start shovin him towards the house, then the kid started talking smack to me!
im thinking, c'mon kid, BAD move, if you are seeing just how WILD my old man is, you KNOW ill tear ya apart. Im a stoic, peaceful guy normally. ive been in a few scraps when i was a bit younger, but they just taught me that it really isnt worth it all in the end. BUT, these days if someone REALLY pushes me to the limit of having to get physical with them, i put all consequences aside and make it worth my while. im just crazy like that.
BACK TO THE STORY, as i turn around to address the kid running his mouth, i realize his buddies were already dragging him away, so i wave and apologize, they say its cool, and me and my pa get inside. I go off on him."what were you thinking, you cant put hands on someone! i saw you try to choke out that dude, you cant do that!!"
'oh that ****er had it coming. im tired of this bulls---.'
"you were on your way to getting jumped, you could gotten your ass beat out there!"
'i coulda taken all of those ****ers at once!'
I talk him down and tell him to cool off for a bit. i find out he is still having a real hard time with the passing of my mother some months ago, so we had a little chat about that.
my pa is almost 60 and he has a bad heart and high blood pressure. his dad died of heart cancer and his doctors are telling him that he is right on the same track unless he starts taking steps to improve his condition. that was my biggest fear during the entire fiasco; i didnt want him to get too worked up and have a stroke or a heart attack while these chumps kick him into the ground.
after a little while i went to check on him and noticed he went back outside and was in their yard. i watched out the window as he apologized and shook all of their hands, squashing the beef presumably.

so by now everything has settled down and i got my dad back into his zen for now. ill admit when i saw the scuffle begin, that jolt of adrenaline felt pretty awesome.


oh ya, and if you EVER come round these parts. TAKE YER DAMN SOCCER ELSEWHERE.

 

[Luckynumber3]

Wow, that is an interesting morning.

Hopefully everything work about between you and your neighbors in the long run- maybe they will keep the ball further away from your house from now on...

 

[Joeydego]

dude, differences in culture big time. Its a huge part of our problems in this country. Melting pots don't work. Y'all were both right. In middle class neighborhoods in mexico, they're on top of each other. Its not strange to get in each others way, especially with something as simple as a ball. But to your dad it was big disrespect. You're BOTH right, you just both belong in your own communities, not living right next to each other. IMO this is a big part of crime in America. No respect or understanding for one anothers cultures.

 

[Drew224]

I hate soccer. I hate annoying neighbors. Shit I just hate most people.

 

[Luckynumber3]

dude, differences in culture big time. Its a huge part of our problems in this country. Melting pots don't work. Y'all were both right. In middle class neighborhoods in mexico, they're on top of each other. Its not strange to get in each others way, especially with something as simple as a ball. But to your dad it was big disrespect. You're BOTH right, you just both belong in your own communities, not living right next to each other. IMO this is a big part of crime in America. No respect or understanding for one anothers cultures.

Agreed, where I went to higschool at there was pretty much an equal amount of people from each culture (like normally theres like 30 white kids in a class and like 2 mexicans or something, but it was like 10 white kids, 10 asians, 10 mexicans, etc.) and it did make it hard to hang out as friends actually. Sometimes this crossing of cultures just doesn't work and different people define haging out in different ways, which meant I never really "hung out" with my friends. (Like we would play video game at my friends house or id drive them somewhere since they didn't have a car, etc., but nobody else really played guitar, etc.)

 

[SixAngryStrings]

Ha! Sounds like my neighborhood... 3-4 nights a week there will be 15-20 kids playing soccer... I've noticed a couple dings on my truck too (little sh!ts...) but I can't prove they did it, and I figure that it's better than them gang banging and tagging on stuff... I absolutely HATE that sh!t... it's SO stupid too...I came outside a couple years ago and saw that some little cholos spray-painted "CPK" on my fence... I was like what the hell is that? California Pizza Kitchen??? f*ckers...

 

[Roberteaux]

Sorry to hear about it, Ace... sounds like your dad has had enough!

On the plus side, so long as this thing ended cool, maybe they'll be a bit more careful about their ball for knowing that he might go off on them. We can only hope so, anyway-- your father doesn't need any more aggravation.

--R

 

[your idol]

where i come from you can get a pass but you cant inhabit. JD is right. cultural difference really get to people and the melting pot BS is for the birds. ive lived in an all mexican neighborhood in Chula Vista..only reason it was cool is because i keep to my self and they thought i was gringo diablo...i just kept my mind and my manners but i could see if 2 families of me popped up it wouldnt end so hot. but these cats shot guns in they air when they partied and killed and butchered their own pigs in the yard for gatherings...lots of stuff to get used to..this was 5 min from the TJ border


PS just saw where youre from...when did Lake Geneva get Mexicans?!?! i know a lot of the population from Chicago/Waukeegan moved north to Kenosha/Racine/Milwaukee for cost of living sake and there was already a small established comunity base but i didnt think anyone but white folks with terrible wisconsin accents lived that far nort'

PSS.. good on ya for keeping your cool. wether my old man started it or not no one touches my family...i woulda ripped off his head, sh!t down his throat, replaced the head with a popped soccerball and left the body on the porch like scarecrow to serve warning to others. keeping your head was much less gratifying initially but will serve you better in the long run as i seriously doubt that fight stays 2 on 4 for very long.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

I lived on the Avenue in Ventura for years, and in North Oxnard for more years ... both thoroughly Hispanic areas. The only time the older ones acknowledged me was once they found out I speak Spanish; then they are the friendliest people around.

The kids come in two varieties: the cool ones, and the cholos. The cools ones would get a couple of bucks to wash my truck. The vatos would get silence until they acted the fool; and then they get the Grumpy Old Man ... y'know, Gran Torino-lite.

 

[Skintaster]

I'm glad things seem to have calmed down... That kind of confrontation can get ugly fast, and legal issues can screw your life up pretty bad.

Houston has a huge population of "Americans of Latin descent". I use that term because we also have an enormous population of people from Mexico and South America, some legally living here, and many that do not.

The "Americans of Latin descent" are culturally almost identical to us "gringos",blacks, and other American cultural groups, but there are sometimes serious culture clashes between Americans living here, and recent immigrants.

My neighborhood has gentrified since I moved here, but it used to have a lot of rental homes, and most of them were rented to those immigrants. I'm a "live and let live" kind of person, so I just tolerated a few things that many people wouldn't... Stuff like neighbors having chickens running around (Not legal here), or having loud birthday parties and similar stuff well into the night.

There were some things I wouldn't tolerate. I came home once to find a multigenerational Mexican family (REALLY Mexican... Citizens of Mexico, not the incorrectly applied "Mexican" label that gets applied to some American citizens) rooting around in my front yard. I have a pecan tree, and they just hopped my fence to pick up pecans.

I speak enough spanish to tell them to get the [email protected] out of my yard, which the did, but they acted like "I" was the @sshole. I had pitbulls as pets at the time, and the Mexicans didn't realize that all that separated them from being mauled while trespassing in my DOG's yard was a fence separating the front and back yards... A fence my dogs could jump if they really wanted to.

But what's a little trespassing when pecans are on the ground, right?

Another time, I came home and heard my dogs going apesh!t in the back yard. I went out back, and a couple of Mexican neighbors had decided to hop my fence so they could prop a ladder on my side, to reach a window on their side. They were both precariously perched on top of said ladder while "Ged and Alex" (My two pits) tried their best to gut the intruders. Again, I told them to get the [email protected] out of my yard.

Now most of those rental houses are gone, and my neighbors are almost entirely white yuppies. They keep to themselves and mostly mind their own business, and that pleases me.

 

[nbeersiii]

America is on its way to being a third world country that all these bastards are running from. Way to go America.

 

[beuford23]

I am actually impressed by all parties involved. It took balls to do what you did, balls for your dad to go over to clear the air and likewise for your neighbors to receive him. That said, regardless of race, I would be much happier knowing that the neighborhood kids were outside playing soccer than inside on PS3 or the corner dealing rocks. If you take the time, you may find that those neighbors are actually decent people. You just need to take the first step (which your dad may have now done).

 

[Rankelson]

Culture Clash seems to be the defining feature in all these instances from our American friends
The world is getting smaller,Suddenly the neighbourhood in which you were born and bred is unrecognisible
Persons from the third world cannot adapt to first world protocol,overnight
If the indigenous population complain~ Its deemed Racist
Tension builds,the indigenous population move out
The Third worlders move in,creating a third world enclave within a first world nation
God only knows the outcome

 

[Torren61]

Glad nobody got hurt. There isn't much fighting anymore but a hell of a lot of shooting.

 

[your idol]

Culture Clash seems to be the defining feature in all these instances from our American friends
The world is getting smaller,Suddenly the neighbourhood in which you were born and bred is unrecognisible
Persons from the third world cannot adapt to first world protocol,overnight
If the indigenous population complain~ Its deemed Racist
Tension builds,the indigenous population move out
The Third worlders move in,creating a third world enclave within a first world nation
God only knows the outcome

bingo

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

... "Ged and Alex" ...

lmao, someone's a Rush fan.

 

[Drew224]

They act so goddamn entitled. Guess what? I was here first and no one owes me a goddamn thing, I don't owe them my respect, especially when they're being obnoxious. I've known some real ****ing pigs, as a matter of fact. At least white people are more discreet about it.

 

[Skintaster]

lmao, someone's a Rush fan.

Guilty as charged.

I considered naming them "Lucifer" and "Moloch" to scare people when I called them, but they were both too calm and goofy for that kind of thing.

Unless, of course, you were trespassing in THEIR yard... In which case they would see that person as a "prey item".

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

They act so goddamn entitled. Guess what? I was here first and no one owes me a goddamn thing, I don't owe them my respect, especially when they're being obnoxious. I've known some real ****ing pigs, as a matter of fact. At least white people are more discreet about it.

Actually, no, you weren't here first. You're only sixteen. There are millions of Americans in front of you.

Also, lmao at you griping about a sense of entitlement. You should practice more introspection.

 

[your idol]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtFb_xem6k8&feature=fvst]CHEECH AND CHONG mexican americans - YouTube[/ame]