Love thy neighbor???

Neighbor: 1: One living or located near another
2: Fellow man

My neighbor on my left side's name is Patrick, he is an exceptional father and a true famliy man.
My neighbor on my right side's name is Fannie, she is a stay at home mother of two, she is a dedicated mother and loves to laugh.

Patrick once found me trying to wrestle the snow from our driveway, he went behind his house for a moment came back with a snowplough and ploughed the whole driveway. This was the first time we had ever talked, he didn't even know my name at the time.

Fannie just moved on to our street about two weeks ago, she introduced herself immediately and we have already exchanged houseplants and gifts for our respective children.

There is a little boy named Steve whom I had the pleasure of meeting last week at the park where I sometimes bring my children. As he was swinging upside down from the monkey bars two blades fell from his napsack. Without ever having spoken to him before, I immediately began to question this boy about where he found those blades and why he had them in his bag. I spent the following hour trying to wrap his 12 year old mind around what it means to pierce the flesh of another human being and draw blood or worse yet, kill. I made him think about what it would be like to have to be sentenced with time in jail and labeled as a murderer.
In the end he understood, I walked him home on the way to my home, each of us holding one hand on either side of my 3 year old whom he played with while we spoke. The boy had a good heart and I can tell he like the way that I spoke to him, he liked being treated like a young adult, because that is what he is. He had begun to think of himself as a degenerate, simply because the people in his life treated him so.

Is it not our responsibility, as fellow human beings, to treat eachother like good neighbors? We love on the same planet and breath the same air and we all bleed blood and must die one day. Our time here is so short, and yet we constantly ignore any chance we have at doing good for one another.

We all watch the news or read the paper, and there is no question that the world is filled to the brim with terrible, nightmarish situations and people. It is easy to chain up our doors and pretend not to see the people around us so as to avoid "potential" dangers or whatever it is people hide from.

We complain about change needing to happen everywhere, but are WE as individuals willing to make the changes within ourselves to suit the outcome that we wish to see?

When I met that little boy Steve, and saw two giant blades slip from his bag, Steve became my own son at that moment, he became my responsibility, simply because he is my neighbor, my fellow man.

Patrick had finished his driveway and could have gone inside and warmed himself with some hot cocoa on that cold winter day, but I am his neighbor, his fellow man and he felt it to be his responsibility to help a woman who was trying to shovel her driveway while attending to her toddler.

Fannie could have pretended not to notice me as I was walking towards my front door, but instead she called out to me to get my attention so that she could introduce herself, she felt it her responsibility to simply exchange pleasantries with her neighbor and fellow man, which in turn created a budding friendship.

I challenge you today to go out there and do some nice things for people who's name's you don't know! We can be mindful of our safety without being rude and unsocial.