Are you a nosy neighbor?

Do you enjoy peering out of your curtain to see what's going on up and down your street?Are Big Brother, the CIA and NSA jealous of your uncanny ability to know everyone's business?Or, do you suffer from insomnia and long for something productive to do while everyone else in your household is sleeping?Have you grown weary and perhaps even broke from watching too many late-night infomercials and feel the need to redirect your energy to something more exciting and less expensive?If any of these scenarios apply to you, then I would like to offer a unique opportunity for you to put your super sleuth skills and bustling brain cells to good use.I think we are all tired of and angry from reading story after story of meth labs, break-ins and vandalism in our communities and instead of things getting any better, they are most assuredly becoming worse.It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where the problem lies, but it is going to take more than just our local law enforcement officers to stop the madness.It's going to take, you.The idea of minding our own business or turning a blind eye to things we don't think we should involve ourselves in needs to be flushed down the toilet and instead, we need to seriously start looking out for one another, literally.We need to start interacting with the neighbors on all sides of us.We need to get to know their names and faces, cars and phone numbers.No doubt some of our neighbors may be part of the problem, but chances are, you'll be able to find ones who are just as concerned about the safety of their families, homes and property as you are.These are the ones that you need to sit down with over a cup of coffee or maybe even a barbecue and make it known that you are willing to look out for them and ask that they do the same for you.A few weeks ago on one of my many sleepless nights, I decided to go and sit out on my front porch to look at the stars for a while.No sooner do I sit down, when I noticed a car stopped in the street and a man going through my neighbor's garbage can. (It was not trash night.)As soon as he saw me, he quickly got into the car and drove away.No doubt, he was up to no good.I didn't have my contacts in so I was unable to give my neighbor any information as to license plate number or make and model of the car, but I at least told him what I was able to see.Just today my neighbor's car was broken into and the Times News ran a story of more cars in Tamaqua that were vandalized with a caustic chemical of some sort.Worse yet, an attempted armed robbery occurred in broad daylight to a couple in Lansford who were just walking down the street!Perhaps a nosy neighbor or an insomniac could have aided in the apprehension of the criminals involved in these unlawful acts.As a card-carrying insomniac and as someone who on occasion, can be a little nosy, my plan of action is to exchange home and cellphone numbers with all of my neighbors and let them know that I will be watching, with glasses on and phone and or camera in hand whenever I can't sleep and ask those who are home more often than not, to keep an eye on us in return.If the bad guys are so "highly" motivated to carry out their unscrupulous endeavors, how much more determined and vigilant should we, the good guys, be to thwart them.Here's looking out for you, kid.