Our neighbor knocked the sideview mirror off our car. And by “our car” I mean “B!’s car” by which I mean the Focus. To be fair, the mirror hadn’t attached properly since August 2006 and had been held on with metal screws since sometime in 2007, so it probably wasn’t the most solid of things. But still. I mean, you break your neighbor’s car, you should tell them, right? Maybe apologize? Because, I mean, this mirror thing effectively totals the car. Without it, B! can’t pass inspection, and without that, he can’t drive the car. Right? Right.

So our neighbors effectively totaled our car.

Now, I’m no stranger to the “hit and run” mentality – this one time, after college, I was late to work and accidentally backed into the rear driver’s side door of this car parked behind our driveway. And, I’ll admit, I panicked. I drove away. But I was SO RIDDLED WITH GUILT that after work I spent an hour driving around the neighborhood so I could find the car I hit and leave a note with contact information. Turns out it was a good thing I did, because that car belonged to MY neighbor, and, to make matters, worse, he was standing at the front door when it happened. I paid for his bodywork out of pocket – no small feat, on my waitress salary – but the financial burden at least helped to alleviate my guilt.

I’m not saying that our neighbors should pay for a new mirror, or that they should buy us a new car, but really. If you break something that belongs to somebody else, you should at least have the common courtesy to tell them. If this is karma, it’s not well-balanced. Don’t you think?