Instead of focusing on the one problem house on the block, I prefer to think about the houses on the block where our neighbors say hello to us every morning and are always willing to help us.

No matter where you live, if you focus on the negatives all the time, chances are you’re not going to be happy. This is not meant to be a “think positive and you’ll shit rainbows” comment but if you are looking for some utopia where there is no crime and free Starbucks on every corner you will never be happy.

-Right. And there are neighborhoods right here in DC where there are far more murders than in CH or Petworth. Like I said, one murder is too much. But let’s stop making the neighborhood out to be Beirut. Many of the complaints in this forum are about incomplete or stalled gentrification – “Too bad that the influx of new residents with higher incomes pushing the poor people out has stopped.” But there are neighborhoods where is no influx of new residents with higher incomes (and the businesses catering to them). Instead, the influx is the poor people getting pushed out of the gentrifying neighborhoods. Things could be a lot worse.

“J— and T– (next door neighbors/brothers who had an argument a couple weeks ago where one shot the other in the foot), are now back to living next door again.”

“Oh, we’ve had another tornado hit the farm today.” (five have hit their property that I know of)

Believe me – rural life ain’t all that safe. It’s just boring for someone who likes a vibrant, diverse culture. I love Petworth.

I moved my own old dad down here to live with me in 2002 and he loved it. (Then again, he had been running numbers as a kid in the Bronx in 1930s.) He talked to everyone. He knew the rough of my years here, but he also knew the rough of the world.

Anyway, dad is gone now, I miss him. learn to recognize what matters and treasure it.

What “frequent” murders are you talking about? How “frequently” are people in CH or Petworth getting killed? Yes, even one murder is unacceptable. But the way some of these posts read, you would think that bodies were turning up every day. And however “frequent” murders may be in CH and/or Petworth, there is no question that they are much less frequent than in areas of SouthEast. I’m not saying that either CH or Petworth is a paradise, but they are not the hellhole that some posters proclaim them to be.

What hit me was that because I have a good relationship with people on my block of all shapes and sizes as it were, some had no problem telling me that they thought the drug dealers were innocent and that the yuppies were responsible for making a fuss over nothing.

There were shootings on our block. I was making a fuss about a shooting.

I’m not saying I’m not putting out negative energy now, but I sure wasn’t in 2006 and the “proof” is in how I was treated like an insider by my long-term neighbors who let their guard down around me.

One thing that really dismays me is that people park on the street and dump the trash from their car onto the easement and sidewalks.

But I spend my day cooped up in an office, and the nice thing is that all the trash lying around gives me an opportunity to spend a little while each beautiful evening outside picking up trash and making things pretty again. In some ways, I feel guilty that I get a small degree of self-satisfaction over it.

In my experience, the more negative energy you put out there, the more comes back to you. At a certain point, it just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.