Wed | May 15, 2024

Hello Mi Neighbour | Never walk away from someone you can help

Published:Tuesday | August 1, 2017 | 12:00 AM

Hello, mi neighbour! Seize the moment! This opportunity may never return! A missed opportunity sometimes results in perpetual regrets. Opportunity presents themselves as favourable times to take actions or make decisions. It's always best to attend school in your youth, cross the road when it is safe, and give flowers when it can be appreciated. According to the blacksmith, "strike while the iron is hot." Your best time is now!

"Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God's hand for that person. Never tell your neighbours to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now" (Proverbs 3:27-28). Sound advice, as tomorrow guarantees nothing for anyone. Unlike others, the Good Samaritan, without hesitation or further investigations, seized the moment: though risky, he stopped by a wounded stranger, soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine, bandaged them, and put him in care of a caregiver at his (Samaritan) own expense.

This parable of the Good Samaritan used in Jesus' teachings is about kindness - humanity's obligation to all mankind. Observing that someone was in trouble, this Samaritan knew it was time for action - not questions. His personal safety became secondary as the instinctive urge to help a wounded brother kicked in. So many have lost their lives in their bid to help others. A non-swimming mother who tried to save a child from drowning and a man who attacks a hungry lion to save his family are prime examples. May their souls rest in peace.

What are we doing about those needs we see around us daily? To see someone in need and feel no urge to assist, simply means that we are living in a dehumanised state of being and must seek remedy quickly! A desire to help others is at the core of what makes us human. People who kill innocent people are dehumanised to the point of paralysis and are only redeemable by a miracle! Help them, Lord!

Jamaica filled with mental, spiritual, moral paralytics

Our nation is filled with paralytics of all types: mental, spiritual, moral, social, etc. the father who rapes his three-year-old; the man who sexually assaults his 90-year-old grandmother; and the one who robs the innocent of love, life and property, does suffer from chronic forms of dehumanising paralyses. Again, we pray: Help us, Lord.

To come back to Jesus' parable, we note that the Samaritan used what he had to meet the need of the wounded. He had love in his heart which does not discriminate. Whether black, white, rich, poor, popular or unpopular, it made no difference. He also had oil and wine for personal use (or for business purpose), which he used to dress the man's wounds: the wine worked as an antiseptic and the oil as soothing agent. At the end of the day, the wounded received the help which he needed - from a single individual who was willing to use what he had.

Truth be told, we are all fully equipped at different levels to help one another. It only takes a willingness to love others as ourselves and a readiness to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, to experience this! Seize the moment and help someone from list the below! There is no time like now!

 

THANKS FOR HELPING YOUR NEIGHBOURS

 

Novie, St Andrews - for act of kindness.

Sonia, St Catherine - for offering a refrigerator to Sonia in St Catherine.

Lola, St Andrew - for offering a refrigerator to Paulette.

Everybody's Pharmacy - for acts of kindness.

 

OPPORTUNITIES

FOR HELPING

 

Miss Morris, St James - widow with two children seeking help to repair house that is falling apart.

Maxine, Hanover - asking neighbour for a sewing machine to help make a living.

Olivine, St Catherine - asking for a dresser.

Delores, St Andrew - physically challenged and in need of a bed and a refrigerator.

Neighbour, St Catherine - needs a sewing machine to help make a living.

- To help, please call Silton Townsend @ 334-8165, 884-3866, or deposit to acct # 351 044 276 NCB. (Bank routing #: JNCBJMKX) or send donations to HELLO NEIGHBOUR c/o 53 Half-Way Tree Road, Kingston 10; Paypal/credit card: email: zicron22@yahoo.com. Or contact e-mail: helloneighbour@yahoo.com