Neighbourliness

A subject on which I feel very strongly. The picture is supposed to be the Good Samaritan. Neighbourliness is not the same as friendship, it's what you do for people who are not your friends, for whom you possibly feel no affinity at all. They need help and you can provide it, so you do, at least up to a point. I think St Peter will be asking us, And how much did you do for people you merely ran into, who were Not Your Kind at all?

I suspect the Good Samaritan was not broke; widow's mites would not pay accommodation for an injured man for several days, and the GS was carrying oil and wine. But the GS gave his time also, and that is harder. I can't produce the reference, but an experiment on theology students had lots of them stepping past an apparently ill person on their way to an appointment they had been told was important.

NB just in case anyone doesn't know, Jews regarded Samaritans as traitors; a Good Samaritan is like, I don't know, a Good EDLer?

After possessing a second home for most of 35 years, I have become someone who has misgivings about second homes. The misgivings are not on account of grabbing more than one's fair share or driving prices up beyond the reach of locals. The first house we did up here is now lived in by locals. The second house sold for £40,000 19 years after I bought it! and in that time it had acquired wiring, plumbing, and a usable attic. However, an empty house is a sad house, and neighbourliness is about spur-of-the-moment not advance planning. The first requirement of the Good Neighbour is to be there.

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Responsible Religion

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