My niece, Samara thought she was doing a good thing when she obtained the movie, ET for family enjoyment. Once her 4-year-old son, Elias realized that ET was lost and couldn’t get home, tears ran down his little face, and he said, “Mommy, I am not im-pwest  with this movie!”
In no uncertain terms he let her know how he felt.

There are times when we adults also need to let people know that we are not impressed with what they say or do. It can be difficult, but necessary, and sometimes you just have to let people know where you stand. However, there is a choice how to express ourselves. We can verbally knock  people over the head with a hammer like Trump does, or tickle someone’s conscience with a feather like Mr. Rogers used to do. But, there is also a happy compromise between hurting people’s feelings or nudging them too gently.

For instance, the road in our community is private. It was in disrepair, and we all had to chip in to have it resurfaced. One of my disgruntled neighbors said to me, “I think we should fill in the community swimming pool to save money, because I never use it.” I replied, “Well, I think we should not resurface the road in the cul-de-sac where you live, because I never drive down there.” Obviously, he was impressed enough to never repeat his idea to me again.

One day, another neighbor took it upon herself to say, “You spend too much for your yard service.”  Whereupon I replied, “I don’t care.” She seemed impressed.

And, while I was taking a stroll through the neighborhood a few months ago, another neighbor came out of his house and said, “I just put a new roof on my house. Do you want to know how much I spent?”  “No, I don’t.” I replied and kept walking. He followed me and said, “But I want to tell you.” I replied, “I really don’t want to know, but if you can’t afford to put a roof on your big, beautiful house, you might want to get a smaller one that you can afford.” I thought, “Hooray, he will never talk to me again.” Wrong! obviously, I was talking to the neighborhood masochist, and he loved it!

By now, you must know that I don’t live in Mr. Roger’s neighborhood.  The worst guy is the fellow who tries to make an impression by telling offensive jokes. He will always say to me, “Can I tell you a joke?” And, I will always reply, “Please don’t. Your jokes are never funny.” Then he will ignore me, tell his joke, and say, “What do you think?” and, then, “Where are you going?” Next time, on my way out of the room, I will quote my little nephew, Elias and say, “I am definitely not im-pwest!”

Esther Blumenfeld  (“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a neighborly day in the beauty wood, Don’t you be my neighbor!”) Mr Rogers-—kind of.