I live in a pretty nice neighborhood.

It’s a beautiful place. People generally get along pretty well. There’s a vibrant local economy. It’s a live-and-let-live kind of place.

But there’s a problem.

A violent gang claims my neighborhood as its territory.

Every so often, gang members show up to collect money from all of the residents and businesses. They tell us it’s “protection money.” I’m not sure if the gang actually provides any protection or not. But I do know that refusal to ante up protection money will result in unpleasant consequences. So, we all pay up without raising too much of a stink.

The gang also has some rules it enforces in the neighborhood. There are a number of dos and don’ts. Failure to abide by the rules will result in some unpleasant consequences. So, most people just suck it up and comply.

Now, you might be wondering why I don’t just move someplace else. The fact of the matter is that no matter where I go, I’ll find some violent gang running that neighborhood too.

You also might wonder why the people in the neighborhood don’t just run the gang out of town. After all, there are more of us than there are of them. There’s been some talk, but the majority of the people are OK with the gang. And a lot of people are downright supportive. They say our gang is the lesser of evils. So, they wear the gang’s colors and pledge allegiance to the gang. Some people even send their kids off to join the gang. They say that the gang is protecting the neighborhood’s freedom.

That would be OK if it were true. But in reality, the gang is constantly trying to expand its power and influence into other neighborhoods. As you can imagine, the rival gangs aren’t thrilled with this competition. So, these violent gangs are constantly beefing with each other.

Recently, some members of “our” neighborhood gang went to another neighborhood and started waving their colors around, acting provocatively. You’ll be shocked to learn that the gang that claims control over that neighborhood responded to the provocation. Some of their boys came over to my neighborhood and raised a ruckus. They tore some stuff up, and I hear there was a pretty nasty fight.

Now, the leader of “our” neighborhood gang says we need to punish their rivals. They want more protection money. They’re also recruiting our neighborhood kids hard, trying to beef up their numbers.

As far as I can tell, the gang over there is a little harder to live under than mine. I have no love for them. They aren’t good guys. But let’s be honest. The gang in my neighborhood ain’t so great either. So, I find it really hard to take sides in this gang fight.

I was at the store the other day and quietly mentioned to a few folks that maybe this gang war wasn’t such a good idea. It didn’t go over well. One guy got right up in my grill and started waving “our” gang colors in my face. He said if I don’t like it, I can leave.

Well, I don’t like it. But I can’t leave.

Such is life in gangland.

Photo by: Discott