Who Is My Neighbor?

I can only remember two times in recent years when I was helped by a complete stranger.

The first was when I was a mom with three young children. While at a toy store, my oldest daughter tripped and banged her head against the corner of a low table. The skin on her forehead was split and bleeding. There, in the middle of the store, I tried my best to calm my daughter and steady my shaking hands while looking for bandages in my bag. But the bleeding wasn't stopping. I forgot about my purchases and tried to round up my children, but with my screaming daughter in my arms, I could not carry my younger daughter also. I was about to make two trips to the van (the parking lot was right outside the small store) when a woman came and asked, "Is that your other daughter? I'll help carry her to the car." She was my angel that day, and I will never forget what she did.

The second was when I was pregnant and grocery shopping with all my children. As always, I load the children into the car before I load the bags. A man saw me dealing with all that, and offered to put the bags in the trunk for me. I have to say, that in all my combined months of being pregnant, I have never had a stranger (besides this man and baggers at the check-out) offer to help me put groceries in my car, even if I was trying to lift a giant box of water bottles at Costco.

This has made me more sympathetic to those in need, and more aware of our society growing more distant on a real, personal level (despite what 'experts' say). We have become people who stick in our ear buds and avoid eye contact. It's now 'mind your own business', and 'don't say anything because you may come across as offensive, racist, sexist, or intolerant'. But I still believe in offering assistance to the elderly. Yes, I may get an answer like, "No, I don't need your help" but at least I asked. I still believe that men should offer their seats to women, and open the door for them. Yes, a woman is perfectly capable of opening a door for herself, but that's not the point. I believe that we need to look out for those who may be in need of help, may that be a child at the park who needs her shoe tied, a man in a wheel chair who can't reach a box of cereal on a high shelf, or a stranger whose car broke down by the side of the road. And I might offend that child's parents, that man who thinks I'm treating him as 'handicapped', and that stranger who had already made a call on his or her cell phone, but hey, didn't Jesus offend some people too? And He asks me, "Who is your neighbor?"