By Ibe Uwaleke
Folks, I have always thought about the injunction “Love thy neighbour as yourself”, by our Lord Christ. The conclusion I have drawn from this age-long injunction is that my neighbour is the next person to me existing alongside with me. He could be my child, wife, parent, sibling, acquaintance, friend, co-worker, co-tenant, a member of my community or association, somebody I have not met or will eventually meet, whether he is coloured or black like me in distant lands.
The neighbour that Christ speaks about is indeed someone without him/her one can achieve little or nothing. He/she is a helper, supporter and the link to your well-being and achievement.
Think of it. We are nothing without others (neighbours). We came through others (parents) and through others (relatives, friends and well-wishers we return home. So what are we without our neighbours (others). It is with this backdrop, the injunction of Christ makes meaning to us.
The injunction, if it is further extended says: “Do to others as you would like them do to you”, or “treat others the way you like them treat you”. Therefore, if you deserve anything good, give it to others. If you want respect, honour and high regard, extend same to others.
By the way, is there any achievement by anyone without others? No company or shop can succeed in business without patronage (customers, ‘other people’). No government can be formed or run without the people or citizens. So, it is only in collaboration with others anything whole is achieved.
Therefore, don’t limit the world to yourself alone, share it with others, after all, ‘what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul’, asks our Lord Christ. Do not forget that ‘whatever a man sows that also he shall reap’.
