Today is my birthday. It looks like I’ll be getting another ride around the sun. 

Birthdays are my favorite holiday. I love being alive. Every time I get a birthday, it’s like a giant middle finger to the world that I was able to survive another year of what life threw at me. 

This year, it’s going to be two giant middle fingers.

The past year has been especially hard. I love being alive. It’s hard living in a time of active eugenics when health professionals no longer take any infection precautions and actively promote euthanasia. I have lost count of the number of times this year I have said “no” to the suggestion of the euthanasia clinic.

I remember a time when it was frowned upon to tell people they should die. Now certain people (those with disabilities and certain medical conditions) are actively encouraged. People seem to think I am a burden on society. 

I am very happy to be alive. I love being here. I work full time and help the abused cats in my area that have been used as bait for the dog fighting ring. Yet, for some reason, I am one of the ones that is supposed to “fall by the wayside.” People frequently say things to my face like, “why aren’t you dead already?” 

The physical injuries and abuse from the neighbors escalated in 2024. I reported their behavior in 2023. Several other houses on neighboring streets made reports also. We were all retaliated against. Since anyone complaining about the boom cars has experienced retaliation, the people who are operating the boom cars got the green light that their behavior is not only acceptable, but welcomed, by the village. Their behavior in 2024 was worse than 2023.

I would like the behavior to stop. I have this expectation that I should be able to live in my home free from physical injury. This is a unreasonably high expectation for this village. The boom cars advertise drugs for sale, and we need to support local business, after all.

Some people have suggested that the way to deal with the neighbor abuse is euthanasia. If you don’t like being abused, you should die.

This does not make any sense to me. Again, I am happy to be alive. I feel like I give back to the community. I ran the book club at the library and served on multiple non-profit boards in the area.

For some reason, the village says that people who live in this area deserve to be abused by the 3-4 houses who do the boom cars. If you don’t like the abuse, have you considered euthanasia?

I would like the abuse to stop. 

In the past year, I have been prevented from sleeping for at least 5 straight months. I was purposefully kept awake and only allowed to sleep 2-3 hours a day. We slept in the car on the side of the road. I own a home, but we had to sleep in the car on the side of the road to get some sleep due to the boom cars.

Even then, the car smells like urine. They built an outhouse directly against my garage using my garage as the fourth wall to their outhouse. I smell human waste every single time I have to drive the car to go anyplace. 

That is if I am lucky enough to even be able to leave. The people across the street have started the practice again of actively blocking my driveway. They park cars 2-3 deep across the road. I can’t get out. They won’t move the vehicles. Some of the vehicles are not able to be moved, as they are torn apart in various states of dis/repair in the middle of the street. 

In addition to the lack of sleep and physical injuries, I missed over a month of work as a direct result of their actions. My employer is being understanding because they know I am experiencing harassment from the neighbors. There are recordings, photos, and witnesses. The sheriff department says videos and photos are not evidence. Witnesses have to be “approved village residents.”

My savings has been drained from all the work I’ve missed as a direct result of their behavior. On top of that, I have medical bills I have had to pay for injuries as a direct result of their actions. There goes money I had been saving for home improvements. 

I was planning to make improvements to this house to be a good homeowner and make the village a better place. The village doesn’t want people to upgrade their homes. If the neighbors harass you to the point you can’t work, they don’t care. 

All of this is legal, according to the village, We need to support local businesses. The boom cars advertise drugs for sale. If anyone does complain, they experience retaliation in the forms of more serious physical injuries and threats.

So yes, this has been a very hard year. Two very big middle fingers to the world.

I am happy to be alive. I love being here. I give back to my community and try to make the world around me a better place. I’m very glad to have another ride around the sun. 

My only wish for my birthday is for the physical injuries from the neighbors to stop. They need to stop with the boom cars. I can take people telling me to die to my face and asking me why I haven’t gone to the euthanasia clinic yet. Yes, that hurts my feelings. But they are only feelings.

Being hurt physically is worse. 

No, I can’t leave. The mortgage company will not allow a short sale. These people have tanked my property value due to the bad behavior. They are so bad, the real estate agent will only show houses here in pairs, and houses here are on the market twice as long as any other location in this entire county. 

People blame me for not being financially able to leave. They say it’s my fault. It’s my choice. If I do not want to be physically abused living in this house, I can choose to be homeless. I can choose to be euthanized. People have suggested that homelessness and euthanasia are both better options than living here being abused. I disagree. 

I love being alive. I do not want to be euthanized. I would not last long if I had to be homeless again. I should not have to be homeless to avoid being abused by people I don’t even know. With multiple homes on multiple surrounding streets complaining of the noise, you would think the village would make it stop. Instead, they encourage the behavior.

So here is to another ride around the sun. The only thing I want for my birthday is for the boom cars to stop. I want to be able to sleep, work, and live my life without having blood drip out of my ears and permanent hearing damage inflicted upon me by drug dealers. I don’t want my cats to be taken and used as bait for the dog fighting ring if I complain again. I’m pretty sure wanting this to stop is a pipe dream, as no one has been able to help. But it’s my birthday, I can dream.