Successful Living > Real Life Lessons > Making a Difference in People's Lives Begins in the Neighborhood

Real Life Lessons

Making a Difference in People's Lives Begins in the Neighborhood

One of the things that distinguishes people of faith is their desire to help others. Jesus repeatedly taught on this theme (most notably the Golden Rule and the parable of the Good Samaritan.) In fact, Jesus earned the undying enmity of the religious authorities of his day by audaciously summing up all of "God's law" (thousands of Hebrew Scriptures) in one short sentence: Love your neighbor as yourself.

This one sentence has revolutionized the history of mankind, spawning (for over two millennia) hundreds of thousands of medical clinics, orphanages, hospices, feeding programs and schools, as well as various reform movements including the abolition of child labor and slavery. As just one very personal example, at age 29, I resigned as president of a successful consulting and investment firm to found Children's Hunger Relief Fund (www.chrf.org), which since has delivered more than $250 million of aid to the poor and needy- and I'm just one amongst quite literally, over time, hundreds of thousands of similarly motivated Good Samaritans.

The question for you - for us - is not only who is your neighbor, but just how do we express God's love? For the last 2000 years, this command has normally been interpreted as helping anyone in need. The emphasis on one's neighbor in particular dates back to Jesus' time, when it was usually not possible to know of needs outside one's immediate community. Since you weren't going to be worried about somebody 100 miles away, let alone around the world, the emphasis was on helping those who you could see, i.e., your neighbor.

In a quantum leap, television changed all of that, expanding our working definition of neighbor to the billions of poor we see suffering around the globe. And here's the rub. As the "wretched" living conditions of the majority of our planet's inhabitants are broadcast nightly into our modern, safe, comfortable homes, we tend to forget about our immediate neighbors and focus on the starving children on our TV screen.

So we send off a few (or a lot) of dollars. The most passionate amongst us may actually pack up and journey to an assignment demanding intense commitment and sacrifice in order to personally serve those in need (such as through the Peace Corps, various relief organizations, or through our church.)

So far, so good. All of this is not only necessary, it's quite commendable. The problem arises if, in helping those outside our community, we turn a blind eye to our neighbor.

Admittedly, their needs may not be so obvious - even the homeless, the abused, the addicted, the elderly and the imprisoned, remain largely hidden from us. Yet we don't really have to make much of an effort to discover those in need of a helping hand, an empathetic ear, a joyful heart, a friendly smile, a hot meal, an encouraging word, or better yet, a word of prayer. The fact is that most of your neighbors (and probably your family friends, and schoolmates and co-workers) are struggling with serious issues - perhaps even the meaning or "worthwhileness" of life itself. Feelings of unworthiness, purposelessness, loneliness, alienation, fear, abandonment, anxiety and despair haunt most of us to some degree. Even those you think you know best - your parents, friends or children - may be in great psychological pain over getting older, a lack of loving or affirming relationships, a lack of meaningful and rewarding work, health or financial issues, family problems, or just trying to figure out how they fit into the world.

These "neighbors" living quiet lives of pain and despair could be on their way to an early grave. The old adage that many people die at 27 (emotionally and psychologically) and are buried at 72 has lost none of its validity today. In addition, a myriad of recent studies have shown that stress, depression and pessimism can cut your life expectancy significantly (most often through cancer or heart failure). Admittedly, helping these folks may not seem as dramatic as feeding starving children. But your impact is still much the same - you may be saving a life or at least helping someone to live a more meaningful and productive life. When people are freed from their prison of hurt and their starvation for love, acceptance, recognition and purpose, they are much more likely to reach out to help someone else - "passing it forward," if you will. Think about it this way: if every month you help just one person on their way to wholeness and that person goes on to do the same, you will have affected hundreds of thousands of souls just in your lifetime! And the good news is you can accomplish all this and more by loving your "neighbor" enough to discover his or her needs and apply some loving kindness. Then you're ready to take on the rest of the world.