All that really matters…
The rabbi Hillel was once asked to explain the Torah. “Love they neighbor as thyself,” he said, “all the rest is commentary.”
Nothing could be more urgent right now during our pandemic and global economic crisis.
It’s a time when individual decisions have massive health consequences for other people.
Why should we wear a mask and wash our hands? Because we care for our neighbors.
Why should we donate to food banks, pay our taxes, treat people well who serve us at the checkout counters or deliver our packages? Because we care for our neighbors.
Why is it important that we rise above the petty, messy political distinctions, the enmity and bitterness and blaming of the other side? Because we care for our neighbors. (AND because the other side is made up of our neighbors, it is us.)
Everyone we meet is an opportunity for kindness. Every situation is an opportunity to act for the good of others, the common good of us all. AND that is all that really matters.
Everything else is commentary.
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Why did I think my neighbor was not a part of me?
Must be because I assumed that he was thinking the same thing about me!
Reading Neville just now reminded me that, if I expect to have the life I want, then I had better pay closer attention to what I am feeding into my subconscious.
Today I think newly of what it means to be a good neighbor. See only the good in him. The rest is just not true.