Neighbors

This past weekend I went with some friends to see the new movie Lakeview Terrace. It was really interesting to see the epitome of a bad relationship between neighbors. There were continuous subtle verbal jabs exchanged with great skill (as well as many other various hurtful acts). While it was very entertaining, that is not a skill that I think people should excel at. Often people excel and take pride in hurting others. I think that the intellect behind that can be used for much better things. Yes, if you are wondering I do feel very nerdy right now as I write this, but I don’t really always write how I talk. If a person is told five positive things and one negative thing, he or she is more likely to focus on the negative thing. I don’t know if that has to do with not being affirmed enough, sin nature, identity struggles, not understanding that we were created in the image of God, or biological issues. The fact remains that negative words can really damage people emotionally. I have so many people in my life that surround me and bombard me with encouragement. Many people have very little encouragement shown to them.

It is amazing to see how lots of people have really helped each other during recent power outages. People have allowed others to use their showers, shared freezer and fridge space, shared electricity to their neighbor who didn’t have it and talked to people that they normally may not talk to.

I’m not typically a great neighbor. I would like to be and often plan to be, but it usually doesn’t happen. I’m not a bad neighbor, but I could do more. My birthday occurred just before the beginning of each fall semester in college. I always planned to share birthday cake with the people in the rooms next to mine, but I would always end up eating it all (my grandma makes great cake) or some of it would get old because I had a lot and I would never get around to talking to them and meeting them. I love meeting new people, but I have never been great with people that lived next to me, unless I knew them from something else already. The power outages have taught me that it is never too late to be a good neighbor. I imagine myself talking to the people that live around me and them saying, “dude, you’re a jerk. You’ve lived here over a year and your just now asking me what my name is (they haven’t asked me either).” The truth is that people aren’t generally that vicious, especially if they are approached with sincerity and tact.

It is not too late to be a good neighbor. It’s not too late to reach out to someone. It’s not too late to extend courtesies. I think many of us; me included would be pleasantly surprised with the result.