Love Your Neighbor?

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Neighbor can be a noun or a verb, like this: one living or located near another, to associate in a neighborly way states Webster. As you love yourself states the Holy Book. It first appeared about the 13th century in common English usage. So we know the word or do we? Do we know the ancient Greek word for love (agape)?

We all have neighbors, and our neighborhood can be next door or blocks away. Close neighbors can be friendly, gracious or aloof, distant; or unneighborly (mean, nasty, troublesome). Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I suppose that can mean many things but implies the fact that we should have genuine respect, maturity, a wholesome self esteem and not the opposite. And it could suggest that without these virtues we won’t make good neighbors—for any of them or the neighborhood.

We live in a culture where neighborliness is vanishing or has actually vanished to our despair. We witnessed it often, long before, during and after the 2020 election. We see it in too many homes, schools, industries, businesses; among neighbors, people of color, those with diaabilities, amateurs, filthy rich or poverty stricken whether nearby or far away.

Neighborliness seems to not thrive among many nations, cults, isms, faiths, philosophies. Believe it or not, it would be a remedy for all kinds of maladies if neighborliness would become commonplace. Strange as it sounds, as a microscopic next door relationship, it also has a potent, panoramic potential.

Yes, it begins with a next door friendship and quickly can spread throughout a neighborhood, a community, scale mountains and cross borders. How many think of something as adventuresome as this is anybody’s guess. Wouldn’t it be exciting to be a part of it starting in our own neighborhood and watch loving your neighbor spread near and far? Or is it too late?

The broad meaning of the word “love” may include sex when appropriate, but goes far beyond in the context or our reliatonship as neighbors. Love does mean appreciate, acknowledge, enjoy, recognize while its antonym is dislike, hate, despise, even ignore your neighbor, especially when assistance is needed.

This has hopefully been challenging in how we treat our neighbors, relatives, friends, superiors, inferiors; and even those who dislike each other. It also includes what we are even when it may be impossible or unlikely to reveal or openly display our feelings.

At times it is difficult to love our unloving neighbor and not show our disgust, disapproval or dislike, is it not? So what do we do? Good question. It takes some effort doesn’t it? In the long run, not always immediately, it will pay off if we are serious about loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.