This is in response to the Aug. 19 letter “Fire pits are hazard to neighbors.”
As a child in Clark County, I rode my bike around Lacamas Lake when the only people living in Camas were farmers and those working at the paper mill. We burned yard debris in our back yards and had fires to roast our hot dogs.
Currently, I live in a neighborhood with plenty of people around and, yes, our family has a fire pit. Occasionally, we ask friends over to roast hot dogs and make s’mores. Some of our best times have been around the fire pit. We’ve never had our neighbors complain; they are OK with an occasional gathering around the fire pit.
What the author of this opinion does not understand is that there is a component to living around people that calls for acceptance of different ways of living and, yes, different ways of showing hospitality to friends. If the fire pit on the other side of the fence is so bothersome, he or she could ask their neighbor when they are going to be using it and then get out of Dodge, at least for the couple of hours while they entertain.
I would do the same for my neighbors; it is what good neighbors do. It is about the give and take of living in community. So live and let live, and lighten up.
