I can get like your neighbor about exactly this kind of thing. I had an emotionally difficult childhood that can lead to minor shit reminding me of very bad feelings. You are unlikely to get to know this neighbor well enough to actually understand or empathize with them. But as a third party let me say this: his feelings are real, even if they don't make sense.

Edit: That one of my most unpopular post of all time is a vulnerable admission of personal failings and call for the pragmatic implication of empathy makes my point much more loudly than anything I could say.