Love Thy Neighbor

Rev. Jerome preaches regularly about how we must love each other and love our neighbors but Rev. Jerome does not have neighbors like ours.

Mr. Gumte regularly spits on the staircase and Mrs. Kapoor sings bhajans so loudly, it disturbs us. How does one learn to love a neighbor who goes out of his way to make your life miserable? One day, at Sunday school, I stood up and asked Rev. Jerome to help me with my predicament. The Reverend smiled and said, “Son do not judge your neighbors for they do not know what they do.” I said, “Reverend, I am fifteen years old and if the church expects me to know the difference between right and wrong why should my neighbors be spared. The Reverend then asked me if I knew of anything that I or my family did that might bug my neighbors and before I could sway my head say ‘no’, Savio got up and said,” Rev. Jerome, to Ashley’s parents refuse to hang a name plate outside their house so everyday neighbors ring our doorbell to ask where Ashley stays. My grandma hates that she has to open the door so many times.”

The Rev. looked at me. I got my answer. My head was bowed. The Reverend said that each of us was unique and had our own idiosyncrasies. Sometimes we never stopped to even consider that what we are doing might be disturbing others. The Rev. said we are all humans and each of us has our own weaknesses and we must learn to accept each other and love each other.