Living in a community that looks after the other.
Today for about 30 seconds, my heart sank and I felt utter despair for humanity. It wasn’t while I was doom-scrolling on social media or watching the latest news from the middle East. It wasn’t when I overheard people chatting over lunch about the inevitability of societal collapse or when I learned about a friend’s frustration with the sheer negligence she is experiencing in her social housing unit.
I’ve been staying in a quaint country town where everyone nods and smiles as they walk past me. Wild roses spring up in the most random places on sidewalks making the most ordinary things pretty. People stop to talk to my dog and make cooing sounds at her as she rest by my side while I’m having lunch at a cafe. I would describe the town as picturesque, friendly and neighbourly if I had to write about it for a travel brochure.
So maybe that’s why the words that I heard coming from a voice behind me fell with such heaviness in my heart. They were “Not for someone I don’t know”. It was a small incident that elicited these word, the kind that we all brush off when it happens. A man in a car blocked another from being able to get his car out of a parking spot. The man who blocked the other said “Could you please wait? I just need to get something from the post.” The other man said “No. Move your car.” The first man replied “Oh so you’re not going to wait?” He replied “No. Why would I? Not for someone I don’t know. I don’t even know who you are. Move your car.” The words were so bold and confident.
Sometimes it’s not the dreadful news from far away that frightens me, it’s the words I hear that come from next door, from my neighbourhood, people I know and even from my own mouth. Those words frighten me because they betray an underlying attitude of a lack of care for the other. In this case, my mind spiralled- “Not for someone I don’t know.” What if we had a society that consistently functioned according to that scarcity mentality? A society where we only looked out for people we know or people that we thought were worthy of our care, or only those who we felt comfortable with. I shudder.
If there is any hope that we move towards, peace and care for our world and coping if society does collapse, it will come from individuals who say the opposite- “I don’t know you, but let me help.”
We are doomed if we become a society that only looks after those who we know. We have enough within us to care for everyone.
Rev. Dr Karina Kreminski, Mission Catalyst – Formation and Fresh Expressions, Uniting Mission and Education. Karina also blogs, this article is reprinted with permission from This Wild and Precious Life.
