Woman "A" is a new American. Born in Japan, she accomplished her undergraduate college work in Japan and then came to this country alone, bravely and with nothing to rely but her own fortitude, to continue her education on a graduate level. After receiving her degree she was able to finally become employed by companies in New York City, and with her husband (of that time, in 1992) she purchased a condominium apartment in the northern suburban area. Since that time she has worked at a high-pressure job in media relations, always feeling that her English was not sufficiently excellent for the difficult tasks (intermediating between Japanese business interests and the non-Japanese media outside of Japan) that her job entailed. Regardless of her personal worries and hardships she is the kind of person who has always had a smile for people she meets, making friends in her little town of residence along the Hudson River, on the commuter train she takes daily into her job, and everywhere else she goes. She has always paid her taxes and carried out any other civic duties asked of her, but in order to participate fully in the American system of democracy she applied for U.S. citizenship so that she would be able to vote in the November 2004 Presidential election.

From now on, let's call Woman "A" `Sayuko'.

Woman "B" purchased an apartment in the same condominium sometime in mid-2004, from an owner who had purchased at around the same time as "Sayuko" did. After purchasing this piece of real estate this owner never lived there, but immediately rented it out. He had never so much as deigned to show his face or acknowledge calls or posted messages from the representatives of the community from that time onward.

We'll call Woman "B" `Nanette' from here on.

A little background is in order

In the first few years of the condominium there were some real rough spots. The builder of the complex has defaulted on loans and the entire 13-unit project had ended being "owned" by the creditors, in other words, a bank. Sitting empty for over a year, it finally became a viable development again when new investors took it on and began to sell units. These first buyers found numerous problems with plumbing, electrical, interior and exterior parts of the structures. The builder had clearly hurried the latter phases of construction and serious problems lurked, it seemed, around each corner. The first Board members charged by the community of owners with taking care of things had a lot to contend with: none had ever had responsibilities remotely similar in the past. To make matters worse, many of the first buyers were new immigrants to the U.S., and not possessing enough confidence in their English skills, even those with goodwill did not volunteer to become board members in order to offer any relief to the first wave of "victims."

A pattern quickly established itself. The board president served for several years and spent nearly countless hours of his off-work time handling Condo business -- I won't bore the reader with a mind-numbing recitatation of the sorts of tasks that entails; those who have lived it, know ... eventually, and a little bitterly, this fellow moved away. Each time after that, finding a new Board President was a crisis for the condo. And every single one terminated his or her term of service by fleeing ... err, moving away to somewhere else.

It's easy for the reader to minimize the largeness of these sorts of events and struggles when they are being described on the printed page, I think. Many will have heard of such things often before, so the story's general outlines will seem very commonplace. Nonetheless the significance in personal lives should not be underappreciated. Those who respond to the needs of a community by volunteering to serve on a Board of Directors get nothing tangible out it in most cases, although control over decisions in a large complex may sometimes end up benefitting people in certain ways. The underhanded "benefits" that sometimes take place when it is a large complex are extremely unlikely to be taking place in a small place such as the dwelling-site of Sayuko. Furthermore, people will praise those take up the harness for about 5 minutes after the election is concluded, and then they will nearly universally proceed to forget about the fact that someone is working on their behalf for no compensation, taking it utterly for granted. The intangible benefits of respect and appreciation from one's peers are therefore almost completely absent from the experience of those who do this kind of service for their communities. And as soon as something goes wrong, officers of the board are the first who will be hearing whining complaints and the first to be vilified when someone loses patience or perspective.

Back to our Drama

Over the course of a decade, the roof over Sayuko's apartment leaked repeatedly, ruining some of her clothing on one occasion and marring the interior finish of her walls generally. She never launched bitter attacks on anyone or engaged in tirades or threats, although it frustrated and upset her. She also never served on the board of directors of the condo, until fate and a overly-idealistic boyfriend intervened. In the middle part of the year 2004, she took over from a fleeing Board president at a time of heavy turnover among the condo residents. Chaos was truly threatening. A condo has to have a board of directors. It is part of the Law in states which recognize such entities as "condominiums". The passivity of the population of residents of this condo had grown more and more prevalent, and the number of renters instead of resident owners had reached an all-time high. The grounds were overgrown with weeds. Repairs were not being done to common property.

When Woman "B" -- Nanette -- moved into the apartment she had acquired from the absentee owner described above, she quickly established that she aspired to be the Neighbor from Hell. Intending to be friendly and welcoming to a new arrival, Sayuko and another woman who also resided in the condo went one evening to her door and tried to introduce herself. One of the first things she said was "I am not used to living in an apartment." Instead of appreciating the gesture, she was cold and off-putting. Soon enough it would become clear that she was far worse than that.

Nanette seemingly had a complaint about her apartment that related to plumbing and her upstairs neighbors. She seems to claim that the sound of water coming down the drain pipes is extremely loud and disturbs her at all hours. Within a very few days of the initial encounter with Sayuko and her fellow good neighbor, Nanette announced to that neighbor that she would sue the condominium if the problem was not rectified. Startled and bewildered by such behavior, Sayuko nonetheless started in immediately to try to respond to the demand made. She took a day off of work waiting for plumbers to come and make a diagnosis, who never came. She tried to discuss the matter with the neighbors living in unit above Nanette, asking them to do all they could to address the problem. The fixed a run-on toilet. The complaints continued, abated, and continued sporadically for a few weeks.

Finally the earnest advice of Sayuko's boyfriend (change: did read before "and discussions among the board members, when they could be assembled", but I've been informaed that the situation has not been formally discussed with the board), led to a search for a lawyer to respresent the Condominium. It had never been found necessary to have one before. When the rare complaints from neighbors in properties adjacent to the condo had arisen, dialog had always resulted in a resolution. But now the unavoidable $200+ hourly fees could not be dodged any longer. After a tense time of worry and doubt, Sayuko and the good neighbors who cared enough about community and quality of life for themselves and others found and decided to retain the services of a law firm. They also voted to raise the monthly common charges by a significant amount. (change: did read before "Seeing the present and likely future expenses of the condo aggravated by the need to retain full-time legal representation, they had no choice."; but I am informed that the raising of the common charges was not at all a response to the hiring of legal respresentation; it was a routine decision required by assessment of the ordinary operating expenses. Oh joy. This implies that possibly, the need for lawyers hasn't even begun to be taken into account as money out of the pocket of all the residents).

The feeling that a neighbor bears you ill-will affects people differently from individual to individual. A person of exceptional sincerity and sensitivity, Sayuko found it added a large emotional burden to her life, to be engaged in this senseless, stupid war with someone living a few doors down. Other individuals might respond differently. For some people, it makes little difference to know that someone nearby may be hating them and scheming to bring them trouble. Some people even seemingly thrive on disputes and ill-feelings. The emotions of anger bring about physiological and psychological changes that human beings can become habituated to: anger can become an addiction, not totally unlike addiction to alcohol or narcotics.

Sayuko isn't one of those kind of people. She is as far from that as can be found. As a Buddhist of the Soka Gakkai (Nichiren) teachings, she practices daily prayer for harmony and well-being in her personal existence and, inextricably, for society at large. In the earlier part of this article her demanding work life was described, but what has been omitted until now is the other part of her existence among people as simple human beings struggling, as we all do, in a difficult world. Sayuko undertakes self-motivated activities beyond (but connected to) the personal Buddhist prayers she makes: many sorrowful, or lonely, or anxious, or sick persons have been touched by her sincere efforts to offer encouragement and inspiration on a human level through her contact with them as part of her practice of engaged Buddhism. Young women uncertain of their identities or true roles in the world have found her honest, cheerful presence has brought them a sense of greater confidence; many older woman suffering from stressful relationships or deep financial worries have found that spending some time with Sayuko has lightened their hearts and given them a renewed sense of youthful optimism.

Sayuko is not a saint. She has moments of petty peevishness and insecurity about herself, sometimes a bit of envy over the fortune of others, and maybe owns a few more pairs of shoes than she really needs. But she is a human being trying her very best to walk a path of goodness, to do what is right, and to spend some of her time thinking about the happiness of others rather than always only of her own. Taking on the role of president of her condo board is a reflection of her sense of what the right path in life is: give so that you shall receive, be of service to others so that your own sense of accomplishment and durable satisfaction is not based on fleeting and ephemeral praise from others but on the sure self-knowledge and indestructible self-identity that comes from self-challenge and perserverence.

Nanette, on the other hand, is a sad and sorry walking wrecking-ball of a human being who sows the seeds of cynicism and resignation around her. By her blind deluded sense of absolute entitlement she rides roughshod over the rightful peaceful enjoyment that people around her deserve to have. By engaging in the litigiousness that more and more people say daily, is eating away at the foundations of our civil society -- the sense of common good, common concern and common values that acts as the cohesive spiritual energy in a highly individualistic society like ours -- she is little more than a squishy termite. It is hard for many people to fathom a person like this. But do not doubt that they exists and do not underestimate the damage they can do. Because they have allies and a mechanism to exploit.

It isn't just Nanette alone that makes this a tale of some concern to us all. She is aided by the existence of a socially-coutenenced class of persons called "civil litigators" who overwhelmingly are persons of no principles whatsoever, who regard every event that comes near to their offices as the equivalent of a chance to play the ponies at the track. And then there are the legislators, especially those in New York State, the pea-brained deal-wheedling on-their-asses -sitting deadweights who have allowed New York to become the playground and paradise of the frivolous lawsuit and the habitually litigianous person.

The story has no conclusion: as this is written it is still unfolding. Nanette has continued to escalate the tone and volume of her threats and has now made it known that the coming lawsuit will name Sayuko and her assistent board member as the defendants, rather than the board as a body. While we do not yet know exactly how things will play out, we can see that it sometimes only takes one person -- and a handful of apathetic by-standers -- to take a nice place to live and make it miserable place one only wishes to flee from. And finally, where does one go? Once you start running away, there is no end to it.

Dedication:

This piece is dedicated to two classes of person I regard with gratitude and admiration: the SGI Buddhists who stick to their convictions in the face of, sometimes, overwhelming negativity; and the givers of Free/Libre Software, who walk a path that is not entirely dissimilar in its ultimate nature.