One of our neighbors was recently bemoaning the state of her usual bus stop in our neighborhood, and the fact that she felt she had to switch to a different one. The reason she cited was that the old bus stop was now a haunt for “scumbags.”

The Yobo and I have gotten into the habit of referring to this particular neighbor and her husband as “The Flanders,” so nicknamed for Ned Flanders and his (ex-)wife of “The Simpsons” fame, due to their unflagging outward cheerfulness and routine churchgoing fortitude. Their religion plays a very influential role in their lives, and they make no secret of it.

So anyway, the Yobo asked Mrs. Flanders what she meant by “scumbags.” “Drug dealers?” he guessed, as this was actually something of a concern at a town meeting that the Yobo and the Flanders attended not too long ago.

Without skipping a beat, and wearing an expression of distaste, Mrs. Flanders replied, “No, the homeless.”

Good Christian friends rejoice, I thought. Give thanks unto the lord for what you have, and turn your backs on those who have not. Call ‘em scumbags, in fact, and persecute them for their situations.

So nice to hear around the holidays, don’t you think?