Discomfort

Are you comfortable? That’s good. But there is somewhere at least someone is uncomfortable! And this should somehow make you uncomfortable too! The world can be a better place only through this way, through thinking others!”

                                                          Mehmet Murat ildan

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

                                                          Luke 10

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We are all connected

We are all neighbors

Even if we life far apart

The Palestinian, behind the wall in Israel is my neighbor

The Syrian, struggling through the dust of destruction in Aleppo

Is my neighbor

The native American besieged,  oppressed

And brutalized by the forces of greed

At standing roc

Is my neighbor

The person living in poverty

In the deep south

Who hates people of color

Is my neighbor

The angry Black Lives Matter person

Is my neighbor

The person close to home

Who is poor

Addicted

Struggling with mental illness

That person who hates guns

And that person who thinks guns have got to go

They are all my neighbors

And having a neighbor in pain

Is not tolerable

Pain is pain

And if someone is in pain

I am called to embrace it

Breathe it in 

Hold it

Bless it

And if possible

Do something about it

Even if it is as simple as listening to someone I disagree with

Trying to respond with compassion to people who attack me

Helping buy a load of wood for Standing Rock

Spending that extra hour to calm down a client

Being an advocate for justice

Honestly

There is not much I can do

To relieve the ills of the world

But I can respond to what is in front of me

And so can you.