I was on the receiving end of a good news story.
We live in community that is about 50/50 Dem/Repub and at least a few Trumpsters. (One guy up the street has an Infowars bumper sticker.) My neighbors on the left is GOP, used to fly the stars and bars but has since switched to the stars and stripes and are older than us. We get along great The neighbors on the right are a young couple smoke a LOT of grass. I have no idea what their politics are if the have any at all. We wave to each other as we pass, we pet each other's dogs, but that's about it. They are in their 20's and we are in our 70's. And so the neighborhood goes. (One thing I really love is that a large majority have dogs, so no one complains about our 5 dogs.)
One of the irritating things about getting old is that your body's thermostat doesn't function as well as it used to. My temp comfort zone has gotten much smaller and I just can't take the heat the way I used to. And this summer has been hot and humid. The only time I can mow the yard is in the evening when most of the yard is in shade and the temp has dropped to the low 80's or lower. Lately that's when the thunder storms have rolled in and our grass was getting really tall. So yesterday I decided to bide the bullet and get the lawn mowed. Our lawn mower is old and tired and usually take 20-30 pulls to start. So - here I am, trying to get the damn thing started when our young neighbor saunters over and offers to help me mow! He recognized that mowing is getting more and more difficult for me and just came over, brought his mower, and helped.
Pretty amazing.
= new reply since forum marked as read
... a lot people are good, caring, and kind.
It's nice to have good neighbors, yes? 
I live within the city limits of Pittsburgh and we're mostly Democratic voters here. The ones who aren't keep it to themselves. I love my neighborhood, in an older area but most of the houses are kept up pretty well. My neighbors are an even split 50/50 black/white. There are older people (like me) living here but also younger families with kids moving in too.
Stonepounder it shouldn't take 20 or 30 pulls on the cord to start your lawnmower. It should start in the first 2-3 tries. Maybe you need a new spark plug? Check to see if your spark plug is oily or sooty, or maybe the gap is wrong? Honestly spark plugs are so cheap, usually less than $5 at Home Depot or any hardware store. I put in a new spark plug every spring, and my lawn mower starts right up. Also dump out any old gas and pour in fresh gas, because the old gasoline that sits in the tank loses oxygen over time.
My neighbor, a kindly black man name Lewis, taught me this and it has come in handy all these years.
Good luck!
This spring I changed my spark plug as usual, but I still had trouble starting it up the first time. My brother came over and fiddled with it, and he got it to start. I asked him what did he do? He said he wiggled the plug wire - that thick black wire that attached to the spark plug - and got it to contact properly.
So eventually the plug wire needs to be replaced, but it should last a lot longer than the spark plug. Just make sure it's got a good contact. Also screw the spark plug in as far as you can, it has to be screwed down tight. I hadn't done that when I replaced it this year. When you take it to the hardware shop to get a "tune up" that's what they do - replace the spark plug and the plug wire.
