Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Feb 6

One recent night I was unable to sleep, so I decided to get up, sit in my chair, and see what is on TV at 3 am. As I flipped through the channels, I came across Mr. Rogers, the famous children’s show from an earlier age. He was hanging up his sweater and giving a lot of advice about being a good neighbor. He opened the door of his TV house to welcome in a “stranger” who was going to help us understand something about music.

Of course, this is a blast from my past, but it made me think about the pioneering work he did to help kids like me form an idea of how to relate to others and the world at large.

Mr. Rogers always started his show with the theme song:

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So let’s make the most of this beautiful day,
Since we’re together we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?

Hearing that song again, I began to think about myself and my neighborhood, in which Kathy and I have lived for over 40 years. The song made me think that perhaps I might not be such a good neighbor. After all, I don’t talk to my neighbors that often, and I am always thinking of all the things I have to do next in my busy day instead of taking the time to say more than hello. However, after having fallen asleep finally, I was awakened by the noise of my neighbor Josh’s snow blower, who was clearing the sidewalk in front of my house. What a neighborly thing to do!

Days before this, we had received a gift of two bottles of wine from my neighbor Dennis across the street. My daughter Erin always bring him a gift from France when she comes, and he came to bring a thank you gift in return. As I was petting the dog of the neighbor to our left, Paul, he told me that he just had another cancer surgery on his jaw. I just listened to him talk because it seemed as though he wanted to share what he had been through.

On the day of the Big Snow I came back from church as the snow was coming down, and I saw my new neighbor shoveling his driveway. I stopped the car and said: “After you’re done shoveling yours, you can start on mine.” He laughed and said, “I hear you.” Of course, he didn’t do it, but I reflected on his words. I hear you is a way of saying, I understand and I sympathize, and maybe that’s what neighbors are about, trying to understand each other as they help each other.

This made me think about what is happening in Minneapolis. Who are these so-called Minnesotans demonstrating against the occupation of their city by ICE? Basically, these are neighbors standing up for, and protesting, what is happening to their immigrant neighbors.

Minnesota has long been understood as a white Scandinavian, Lutheran stronghold. Now, however, it contains a multitude of people from all nationalities and colors, among them Somalis, Hmong, Hispanics, and Asian Americans.

As I write this, two Americans have died at the hands of ICE, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Almost everyone in our country knows their names. They died protesting and defending their neighbors. They were not “domestic terrorists” as our government branded and maligned them. They were just people, neighbors, standing up against the injustice they saw happening. They were people like you and me; they were our Minnesotan neighbors.

Jesus was a asked, “Who is my neighbor?” In response he told the story of the Good Samaritan. In that parable a Jewish traveler is beaten by robbers and ignored by his own religious leaders, but rescued by a despised Samaritan. It teaches that "neighbor" means anyone in need, regardless of background, emphasizing compassion and mercy over prejudice. Put differently, Jesus was trying to say that the whole world is my neighborhood, no matter people’s nationality, color of their skin, or their citizenship papers.