Friday Writings #138: Loving One's Neighbour.

 

 Hello again, dear Word Weavers.

How are you and those around you surviving weather extremes, the increasing cost of living, the latest strains of COVID, the terrible news from war zones…?

I am glad to report that I'm recovered from my recent COVID, and I think I probably got out of it lightly. I got onto anti-virals quickly, thanks to the advice of a friend who then fetched them for me from the doctor; no doubt that helped. I did a lot of sleeping! When I was awake, I just did the bare minimum to care for myself and my little cat Poppi, and let everything else go. I must say, I enjoyed doing next to nothing. By now I am feeling good and my life is pretty much back to normal, but I am trying not to get quite so busy as I was.

Regarding war news, I have friends who confess to feeling a version of survivor guilt, questioning why people elsewhere are going through widespread horror and suffering whilst we here, whatever our personal problems, are relatively well off. They feel undeserving.

I don’t personally feel that. Appalled as I am by those terrible events, I think that being caught up in them or not is an accident of either luck or fate, however we want to think of it, but anyway beyond our agency and not a matter of deserving or undeserving.

I can’t help having been born here rather than there, any more than people in the war zones could help being born there rather than here. To think, ‘I don’t deserve to be so well off while others are suffering’ carries an implication that some people do deserve to suffer – a thought I don’t like to entertain.

True, certain individuals or groups may bear a terrible responsibility for setting such things in motion, but the majority of people caught up in them just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yet we who watch from further away can’t help but wish we could do something to fix the situation – wave a magic wand, go on protest marches in the streets, write to our government ministers.... Perhaps the irrational guilt comes as a result of feeling powerless.

I think, too, of things we were taught as children: ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right.’ ‘It takes two to quarrel but one can always end it.’ And, growing up in an officially Christian country, even a non-religious family like mine couldn’t be unaware of the advice of Jesus: ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself.’ 



What kind of a world might we have if we followed that advice? If we extended it even further than people, to all living things? Oh, if only! It seems impossible, of course; against human nature. How can we love those who injure us? Tell it to the people in the war zones! How are they to love those who murder their families, destroy their homes? And yet, if we really could all love our neighbours, surely the wars would never have happened?

Then again, if the freedom to think for oneself is an ideal, then a range of different opinions on any subject must not only be tolerated but celebrated.

I guess we all have to figure it out for ourselves as best we can. I like the idea of living one’s life in a spirit of inquiry. If I were to be in an ongoing inquiry into, ‘How can I be loving in this situation?’ or, ‘What would loving my neighbour look like in practice?’ that might remove value judgments as to whether certain actions or ideas are ’good’ or ‘bad’ and hopefully all considerations of who deserves what. I can’t say I DO live like that – but as a result of these reflections it presents itself as something to aspire to.

 

 

Prompt: This week I invite you to reflect on the saying, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ and let those reflections inspire your writing.

Guidelines:
You may write to the prompt or ignore it.
You may share poetry or prose, new or old.
One post per person, please; 369 words maximum (excluding title).
Link to that post in Mister Linky below.

Part of the fun is to see what others write. Please have a look, and leave encouraging comments where you can. (Don’t forget that some people post towards the end of the week, so if you have another look later you may find new treasures.)

We also welcome any comments you care to leave here, below.

Next week, Magaly will invite us to find inspiration in one of the following titles:

1. I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude
3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
4. Something Wicked This Way Comes
5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being