Hello Mi Neighbour | Don’t neglect your social responsibility

Hello, mi neighbour! If at the end of today you are feeling unfulfilled for unknown reasons, quite likely you did not fulfil your divine assignment for the day. Yes, you might have overdelivered on other assignments, and received high commendations from employer and co-workers, and even a promotion or a pay increase, etc. Yet, there is a sense of incompleteness.

Once upon a time, there was a man who through hard work became rotten-rich at an early age. However, as his wealth grew, so did personal unhappiness. There was a void which could not be filled, even with a wife, children, friends and business success. So what was his problem? Enenh, “What was his problem?” We’ll see later.

Of the billions of persons who went to sleep last night, for some strange reason, approximately 90,000 of them did not wake up this morning, even though many went to bed healthy. Was it that their earthly assignment ended and it was time to go? Who knows?

Be that as it may, could the reason why we are still here, and even reading this article, is that we have not yet completed our assignment? Do you know your daily assignment? In general, as part of our lifetime social responsibility, we are all assigned the following:

• Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land.

• You shall not murder.

• You shall not commit adultery.

• You shall not steal.

• You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.

• You shall not covet.

The answer to the question for the social ills across the world is very simple: people have neglected their social responsibilities and have found pleasure in doing the opposite. People will steal and people will kill. People commit adultery and they will cheat. Many will tell lies and some will covet others. Rather than helping the poor and needy, people despise and condemn them. People will give half-measures and cut corners to fatten their pockets. Like ‘King Miser’, there is nothing to them like cash and more cash, even if it means nightly restlessness. Poor things.

The rich young man mentioned above was not a miser, but his wealth blinded his eyes to the needs of his less fortunate brothers and sisters, leaving him empty and incomplete. When the counsellor advised him to sell his assets and feed the poor, he walked away sad and even more unfulfilled and miserable, not recognising the link between his misery and his refusal to help the less fortunate.

I now leave you an assignment: why are there so many unfulfilled people in the world at the end of any given day? If your answer is, “Because they did not carry out their divine assignment for the day: helping to bear the burden of others without discrimination”, you are not wrong.

And remember, please help others from the list below and be fulfilled.

THANKS TO NEIGHBOURS

• Mr Fong, St Andrew, for offering a bed to a needy neighbour.

• Ms Brown, Westmoreland, for offering a bed base to a neighbour.

• Warren, St Andrew, for donating to neighbour’s needs.

NEIGHBOURS’ REQUESTS

• Cancer patient asking for items of clothing to sell as a means of earning for her medication. Husband walked out on her.

• Elderly neighbour asking for help to start a little business of buying and selling – needs food.

• Neighbour, asking for a sewing machine.

• Sheron, kidney patient, going through a very tough time purchasing her medication – cost $300,000 for two months’ supply. Needs help urgently.

• Neighbour, asking for a second-hand freezer to help generate an income to send his child to school.

- To help, please call Silton Townsend at 876-334-8165, 876-884-3866, or deposit to acct # 351 044 276 NCB. Alternatively, send donations to HELLO NEIGHBOUR c/o 53 Half-Way Tree Road, Kingston 10; Paypal/credit card. Email: zicron22@yahoo.com. Contact email: helloneighbour@yahoo.com. Visit hellomineighbourja.blogspot.com. Mr Townsend exclusively manages the collections and distributions mentioned in this column and is neither an employee nor agent of The Gleaner.