~Harry S. Truman
Take care, human beings, full of failings, are neither you, nor me; they are our neighbours, the ones we meet on the street whom we prefer to avoid, out of fear that they may need our help.
A cynical response to life's trials is never one that should be rejected there being an awareness that our neighbours are not always the sort of people we would choose had the choice been ours. They, likewise, probably agree, when we are their topic of conversation.
In the parable of The Good Samaritan, Jesus attempts to persuade His audience that even our enemies should be treated with respect. Jesus also observed that sibling rivalries can erect barriers within families when matters of inheritance are under discussion, there being an awareness that it can be much more difficult to reconcile differences within families than with complete strangers whose problems by chance just happen to appear in front of us, inviting us to practise being a good neighbour evidenced by our sacrificial actions, rather than just by words of good intent.
Jesus goes on to teach us that it was an enemy, a Samaritan who aided an injured Jew whereas a priest, and levite passed by ignoring the cries of their injured fellow Jew.
Aleister Crowley's words are both amusing, and instructive in that they speak to the insanity of religious intolerance so evident throughout human history:
The supreme satisfaction is to be able to despise one's neighbour and this fact goes far to account for religious intolerance. It is evidently consoling to reflect that the people next door are headed for hell.
Intolerance of any description reveals the willingness of the human person not to recognise our own flaws often evident when we fail to acknowledge that our neighbour is the person who just by coincidence appears in front of us appealing for our assistance.
God moves in mysterious ways to test our faith in Him by inviting us to evidence our love of Him, beyond lip service.
The Bible tells us to love our neighbours, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.
~G.K. Chesterton
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