What does it mean to be a neighbor to someone else? Does it simply mean to live next door to them? Or across the street? Or down the block?
My wife and I recently moved to a new city. We bought a nice home in a nice quiet neighborhood. We are on a corner and we have a neighbor directly across the street from us on one side and a neighbor directly across the street from us on the other side, besides houses down the street on both sides. The neighbor across the street that our house faces immediately came over to introduce herself when she learned we were moving in and even prepared dinner for us on the day the moving truck brought all our belongings. We asked her to speak to the lawn man she used to ask him if he would mow our lawn right before we moved in and she did. She has been very helpful and friendly in every way as we have begun our life in this new neighborhood.
The neighbors directly across the other street have not spoken to us once even when we have been out in our yards at the same time. I have looked for opportunities to speak to them and even waved at them once, only to be ignored. I get the feeling that perhaps they are not interested in knowing us as neighbors or friends. Maybe they are too busy with their lives or their occupations or their children to have time to interact with their neighbors. Maybe they do not see the importance of knowing those who live around them. They just seem to rush off to their jobs and return home in the evening and then cloister themselves in their home until the time they go elsewhere, rushing about their business.
Neighborliness is a trait for some and a skill that is developed for others. It seems very natural to some people but it seems to be something that is learned by others. Some people have the gift of gab (such as yours truly) and others seem to be shy and afraid to speak, perhaps thinking they do not know exactly what to say in every circumstance. Neighborliness may even be cultural in some ways. Those of us who grew up in the South in the last century were taught to speak to others and be friendly to others. Some in other regions of our country and in other countries are taught to be wary of strangers and not be vulnerable in case strangers may have ill intentions in mind.
Perhaps the greatest teacher of the values of neighborliness that many of us knew well in the 20th century was Fred Rogers, the host and director of the children's program, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Each day the program aired, Mr. Rogers used it to teach children lessons about the importance of being a good neighbor to others in our world. He taught them to treat others with respect and to practice kindness and truthfulness as they lived among others. He introduced them to people who worked in neighborhoods such as the postman, the policeman, or the fireman so that they would know that such persons were helpers in case they needed them. Mr. Rogers was a Presbyterian minister by training and his program became his pulpit from which he could teach lessons of love and forgiveness without being preachy as some may do in society.
Some neighborhoods have a yearly celebration called "Night-Out", a kind of block party, where people in neighborhoods get to know one another and share food and friendship together. Such nights are good opportunities to get to know those who live around us whom we may not know well or at all.
Otherwise, it often takes a tragedy, such as a disaster to bring together the people who live near each other. It is a shame but people often respond to one another and their needs when a tornado or hurricane or fire or flood has ruined the lives of many making neighborliness something to be forced upon them so they can all survive. Thank God that such disasters often bring out the best in people so that they respond to needs and assist others in times of great distress.
How much better it would be for us all if we would reach out to one another in concern and service BEFORE we have a need to brings us together? God gave us our lives to be interconnected so that we would be part of the great human family. Our lives are meant to touch one another and we share with one another the parts of our lives that we feel comfortable sharing. Greater communication and trust will bring about positive results for us all as we become closer to one another and we work for the common good of all humanity.
Will you be my neighbor? Or will you ignore me and act as though I do not exist? Perhaps that is the question we should all examine in our daily interactions with others.
