On Becoming Outraged at the Behavior of Others

[MineralMan]

When I was about 14, my family lived in a house across the street from another house with a big picture window facing our big picture window. One evening, a woman appeared in that neighboring window, standing there stark naked. Noticing her, I made a comment to my parents about it. My mother simply said, "You needn't stare at her, you know." So, I stopped looking out the window at her and went back to reading the book I had been reading. That's my Mom. She always got right to the point about things.

That never happened again. I suspect my Mom talked to the neighbor and politely expressed her reservations about such behavior. The draperies were drawn after dark on that house after that.

The point taken from that, for me, was that I could not control the behavior of others, but that I could control my own behavior in response to it. It was an important lesson, I think.

[Warpy]

1. I remember one neighborhood with picture windows on the back of the house

looking directly across the block into other picture windows. My mother said it was like living in a g.d. fishbowl, direct quote. Ours was resolutely covered up at all times and my parents didn't even walk around nekkid.

I was always raised with the idea that I could choose what to look at, also. It's a good one.

[MineralMan]

2. Oddly enough, my parents always left that picture window

uncovered. As it happens, I currently live in a house with an almost identical layout as that house from my teen years. It also has a picture window in almost the same place, looking out on the street. During the daytime, it's always uncovered, but my wife prefers to draw the draperies in the evening.

Neither of us walks around naked, though. Still, the window is nice to have. We feed birds and squirrels in the front yard, and we have a window on all of that. Our cats appreciate it, too. It's our view to the outside world, so I don't cover it up. During the daytime, however, anyone outside can't really see the interior of the house, due to the contrast in brightness. I've checked. At night, though, it's just the opposite and my wife doesn't want people looking in. I'm indifferent about that, so I don't mind if she draws the draperies.

[Warpy]

3. I remember some neighborhoods, houses set back at exactly the same distance

lined up in military precision, picture window after picture window with some kind of oversized lamp in the middle of it. I never saw any of those rooms occupied, they were the largely vestigial "formal living room" while the family lived in the kitchen and rec room. I always found it weird beyond belief.

I did have one apartment in Boston that had sort of a picture window, two double hung windows side by side. I crammed it full of plants, no lamps in sight.

[MineralMan]

4. That was common in developments built in the 50s and 60s.

My current home in St. Paul, MN, was built in 1954, and has almost the exact layout as my parents home in the late 50s. It's a standard, ranch-style design with a side door opening into the kitchen/dining area with a large living room to the right of that side door. A hallway leads to three bedrooms and one bath, and that's the entire house. The living room, being the only large room in the house, was in constant use, and still is in my home.

Picture windows were optional in the design, and my neighborhood, which was developed by one builder has several with that feature, while others have multiple double-hung windows in the same location.

It's a decent family home design. In our house, the third bedroom was built as a dining room, with a large doorway into the kitchen and a doorway to the hall as well. The single bathroom is rather small to serve an entire family, but we managed in my childhood home, despite there being five people living there.

Oddly enough, most of those homes in my neighborhood are lived in by young families, once again, who are living in almost the identical environment I had when growing up.

[Warpy]

5. Mine was an early post WWII starter house

with 2 bedrooms, one bath, and original floor plan identical along the whole street. It has a picture window. No lamp.

I lived in so many crazy places growing up that they've all sort of morphed together. I just remember those stupid formal living rooms that nobody ever lived in with that ugly, oversized lamp in the middle of the picture window that nobody looked out of.

My own area went from the young families, to the rentals to the ghetto and back to people owning their houses. The rest of the city still calls it the War Zone, but the war has moved on. It's downscale enough to be comfortable.

[MineralMan]

7. In our 50s development the floor plan is flipped in

alternating houses. Here, unlike in California, all of the houses also have a full basement. Most of those have been finished over the years and serve as family rooms and sometimes another bedroom or two and a bath. That works, until water gets into the basement. The house next to ours has an unfinished basement with a painted floor. According to the original owner who is now deceased. the children used to roller skate in the basement during the winter months to "burn off steam," as she put it. Out house has what is politely called, a partially finished basement. My office is down there, but most of the space is used as storage for excess junk we've accumulated. There's a furnace and laundry room down there, as well.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

6. The very last thing I would've done was tell my parents!

[MineralMan]

8. The whole family was in the living room, so they would have noticed

at some point.