Recently I met an older woman while grocery shopping. She asked me if I knew where to find raisins and I told her. A few aisles later, I saw her again and she asked if I knew where to find pickles and I told her where they were. We met again in another aisle and started talking like good neighbors. She was friendly, intelligent, and probably lonely so I suggested we meet at the coffee shop. We enjoyed a conversation and discovered we had some things in common so we exchanged names and phone numbers.
I really didn’t expect this chance meeting to develop beyond our first encounter but she called me the next day and we talked like long time neighbors chatting over the back fence. Everyone can use another friend, I thought and it is not difficult to reach out to most people or at least meet them halfway.
My new friend and I discussed many things: family, news, memories, and such mundane topics as recipes. She is unable to use a computer due to bad eyesight so I frequently relate the latest happenings. Somewhere it occurred to me that being friendly with a neighbor is not really different than reaching out to neighbors in Haiti or Chile or any other far away land.
Americans, as we all know, will send millions of dollars to people in need, as well as supplies, doctors, nurses, firefighters and friends. This is as it should be, but I couldn’t help wondering why we wait for a disaster to spur us into action.
Later that same day, I walked into my daughter and son-in-law’s house and he was watching a makeover show on television. Various companies had donated many products and people had donated their time to make over a user friendly house for a very deserving family with a handicapped child. It seems like there are several such TV programs.
Taking this a step further, I thought of the Peace Corp, missionaries and Habitat for Humanity. In short, there are many groups and organizations reaching out to neighbors all over the world. Perhaps my ability to help is limited to a small monetary donation, but it is people like me who create the checks for millions of dollars to be used where needed.
In retrospect, it appears the Good Neighbor Policy is alive and well, but like all of us, it is in constant need of nourishment and encouragement. Maybe this policy begins at home but our world is so much smaller now than it was one hundred years ago that, I believe, our neighborhood has grown. The other side of the world is no longer a mystery but merely an extension of our humanity.
