As near as I can tell, anyone who joins the security force that mans the front gate of our neighborhood and patrols its streets has agreed to become a community punching bag. It must be in the employment contract that each officer agrees to take the blame (via the neighborhood facebook page):

• any time a resident forgets to call the gate ahead of time to pre-authorize guest access
• any time said resident cannot be reached to give authorization for a guest waiting at the gate
• any time said waiting guest’s car creates a traffic jam at the gate

In addition, every officer apparently also agrees that the following items are his/her fault:

• children wandering the streets unsupervised
• items not turned in to Lost & Found
• children venturing out onto frozen ponds
• dogs barking
• cars speeding and/or running stop signs
• the missing tennis court keys
• noisy neighborhood parties

I’m not saying these folks never make mistakes. We all do. But there are way more things they do right than wrong, and it’s unfair that the focus is only on their rare goof-ups. Why should they want to lift a finger to protect our safety when all they get is a raft of crap for their efforts?

Maybe a thank-you note and a basket of Easter goodies will let them know that their hard work is not unnoticed in the community.

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In an attempt to overwrite all the negative feelings I have about April, I have made a pledge to complete 26 random acts of kindness this month. Reporting on these acts is the theme of my participation in this year’s April A to Z Challenge. If what you read here inspires you to commit your own RAoKs this month, please share what you’ve done in the comments. Together, we can rewrite April’s legacy!

If you’d like to check out how some other bloggers are responding to the A to Z Challenge, click here. Beware, there are 2237 participants at the time of this posting (the numbers are going down as the challenge moderators weed out duplicate blogs, non-participants, and broken links from the list). I accept no responsibility for the hours you are likely to lose once you start browsing! 🙂