Path of Grace

I’m following on from my last post, please bear with me.

This season is proving to be an incredible journey – largely because we are all undertaking and adapting to it together.

As I mentioned, I haven’t stopped working since the beginning of the pandemic that has taken over our lives. The company I work for has been deemed essential and thus we started running a limited service, since the end of March, and then opened fully at the end of April.

It feels like it has been both an extraordinary short and yet long period of time since our countries have been locked down. Covid-19 has affected us all in one way or another and we won’t know the full extent of the changes we’re undergoing for some time yet.

Which is why it doesn’t cease to amaze me that despite being faced with a global crisis, the actual downfall of our communities is greed, envy, selfishness, hate and ignorance. One of the first things that I caught in the news when this all began was the new scams that would be cropping up to take advantages of people.

I don’t have to go into details as we all know what injustice has been done, one way or another. If I’m honest, my view of injustice probably won’t match your view. We are also aware of all the good that has come out; the creative new and recycled ways that we are incorporating into our every day lives to stay in touch and stay safe.

This brings me neatly to the point I want to make:

What does being a good neighbour mean?

Is it too late to be a good neighbour?

I believe that being a good neighbour, being a good person, is being able to be active. That, however, is a very complex and broad answer. Being active looks very different for each individual. Not two people’s efficient action is the same and it’s incredibly difficult to compare or narrow down.

Like fingerprints, we are all unique in every way – we may have similar ideas, likes, points of views and standards, however, that doesn’t mean we’d respond the same way to a situation. Which makes it incredibly important to understand that how we cope, help, make a change, contribute will look different as well.

I have really struggled with this lockdown both because of my fears for my family’s health and safety and because I don’t know how to help, or even how to respond to other people’s needs.

My flaws seem to magnify in the face of all that’s going on. Good and bad.

I can’t drive, which means I can’t travel safely and at least go across the country to speak to my mother from her doorstep. I can’t drive so I can’t deliver plants to my local nursing home to give our older generation something to look forward to that will brighten their day (and keep them occupied).

I’ve just finished paying off all my credit card debt and have no savings. I can’t afford to contribute financially to people that are starving in this country and across the world. I don’t have any savings so I have to ensure that my paycheck is enough to keep my partner and I afloat and yet I’m so aware that he’s struggling to cope with the idea of not being financially independent (being self employed and without work).

I don’t know how to help the customers that come through our doors because I’m too frustrated that they’re out shopping for none essentials. Because they’re “bored” they rather put their families, themselves and us at risk so they have something to do.

Comparing myself to those on social media isn’t helping me or anyone else. Pointing out my flaws isn’t going to help me grow or do something that will help others.

So what does being a good sacrificial and action-taking neighbour look like?

It looks like you.

It looks like me.

It looks like doing what you can, with what you have. Some gestures are big and some are not seen at all but they make a difference.

I was able to get my partner to pick up a lot of plants from work, which I couldn’t have had if I didn’t work there. So being a good neighbour looks very much like gratitude.

His parents were able to put together pots with a variety of those plants I got from work and left them outside our neighbours houses. Being a good neighbour looks like creativity.

This small gesture that has rippled from my workplace (and even if it has just stopped at our neighbours), helped lift their spirits and expressed a message of solidarity and care. We wave to each other when we’re outside the house now. Two months ago, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what my neighbours looked like.

My mum and auntie got together and called family and friends to action by asking them to donate money towards feeding people in Colombia. I contributed along with my partner and his parents and my friends. Being a good neighbour looks like sharing.

In turn, our family back in Colombia took those donations and went and bought and distributed groceries for the most vulnerable in their community and in one week over 35 families were fed. Being a good neighbour looks like sacrifice.

What’s in your hands?