{"id":1687,"date":"2018-06-24T00:18:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T21:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/?p=1687"},"modified":"2018-06-24T00:18:01","modified_gmt":"2018-06-23T21:18:01","slug":"defining-neighbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/defining-neighbor\/","title":{"rendered":"Defining \u201cNeighbor\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Georgia Coats<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I first met Maude* when my toddlers began to waddle northward towards her house.\u00a0 She was tall and gaunt with a sensible silvery bowl cut.\u00a0 Even when she was being friendly, she had a naturally sharp tone behind most of her curt comments.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We intentionally moved into the neighborhood for the richness of its cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity.\u00a0 We wanted to take to heart the command of Jesus the Messiah\u2014to love God with all our hearts, and to love our neighbors as ourselves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When a wealthy young man challenged Jesus to define neighbor<\/strong>, he responded with a beautiful story of a compassionate Samaritan man <\/a>who met a Jewish man along his path in a moment of desperate need.\u00a0 The Samaritan had to cross cultural and religious boundaries, and face the prejudices of the day to help.\u00a0 It also cost him time, effort, and money to bring comfort, healing and blessing to the wounded man.<\/p>\n

Our family has a lot to learn from Jesus\u2019 story and expectation of loving our neighbors.\u00a0 We have been challenged to cross over boundaries and enjoy the adventure of diverse neighborly relationships.\u00a0 The challenge and the joy are mutual.\u00a0 Our kids have grown up alongside our Arab Muslim neighbors and we have shared life together\u2014the ice cream truck, henna, pass-the-plate wars<\/a>, front yard games, and even the great flood of 2014.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

#lovingmyneighbors<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Arab hospitality is a thing.\u00a0 Kindness expressed through great food is a debt we can never repay.\u00a0 On our south side there is the Lebanese widow of four grown children.\u00a0 She makes great hummus and has a very cute puppy.\u00a0 Next to her is a young Yemeni family, a sweet elderly retired Iraqi educator, and a Palestinian family.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To our north are a few more Yemeni families who throw great girl parties and provide my kids with an endless supply of sweet treats, especially during Ramadan.\u00a0Next to them is Hussein, the paper airplane guy, and his sister Latifeh, working professionals who live with their elderly parents.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And Maude.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our kids knew Maude as the one who lived next to paper airplane guy, since he revolutionized our world with his simple craftsmanship of paper pleasure.\u00a0 They clearly knew to avoid Maude\u2019s house.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t have patience for noisy flocks of neighborhood kids.\u00a0Through our outdoor springtime encounters I learned that Maude had a lot of brokenness and sorrow in her life.\u00a0She had a soft heart protected by a tough exterior.\u00a0 I tried to listen compassionately while always keeping one eye on the kids, the street, the ball, and the cars going by.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But what came next caught me off guard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In her quiet quick undertone, she expressed how glad she was, that even though we had noisy toddlers, at least weren\u2019t ARABS<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What??!!!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It slipped out so fast that I did what I tend to do in awkward conversations\u2014I second-guessed what I really heard. It was often in that mommy-distracted place that Maude slipped in a few more of her opinions about our Middle Eastern neighbors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Always one-liners.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me always wishing I had a great comeback.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Years passed.\u00a0 Kids grew.\u00a0Maude got older and frailer.\u00a0 I noticed Maude walking alone, a lot.\u00a0 As a fellow walker, sometimes I joined her.\u00a0She would uncharacteristically slip her arm into mine and ramble on and on.\u00a0 She would oscillate from sweet melodic chitchat to swearing up and down.\u00a0One morning I saw Maude wearing two different shoes.\u00a0 Another time she had wandered down a street far from her normal route.\u00a0 She looked lost.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hussein happened to be home when I dropped Maude off at her house.\u00a0Her dementia was getting worse.\u00a0 Hussein, his sister Latifeh, and their parents took it upon themselves to keep a close eye on their aging and lonely next-door neighbor.<\/p>\n

It was Hussein that would walk with her in the evenings up and down the block\u2014matching her frail snail\u2019s pace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was his parents who would have breakfast with her every morning. \u00a0They were the ones who found her after she had fallen, at the bottom of her staircase.<\/p>\n

It was Latifeh who left work upon the emergency call from her parents describing Maude\u2019s injuries.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maude passed away shortly after that accident.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I had moved into the neighborhood to live out what Jesus taught.\u00a0I thought I understood.\u00a0 I thought I could be an example of a good neighbor.\u00a0And we have been richly blessed by generous neighborly relationships.\u00a0 But we have so much more to learn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hussein and his family exemplified day-to-day intentional care for Maude.\u00a0Being inconvenienced for the welfare of another.\u00a0 Advocating for the vulnerable.\u00a0 Even loving someone with a blatant prejudice against \u201cthose people.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 Maude wasn\u2019t the easiest person to love.\u00a0 But Hussein, Latifeh, and their parents took the time to truly care for the needy, the lonely, and the lost along their path of life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maude\u2019s words still trouble me.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What troubles me is that she is not alone in her racial one-liners.\u00a0 There will always be more.\u00a0 They will always feel like unexpected sucker punches.\u00a0 Now is the time to devise my crafty, yet compassionate, comebacks.\u00a0 To be ready to give an answer and to stand up for what is good and right and true.\u00a0\u00a0How would Jesus do it?<\/p>\n

I am open to suggestions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And in the meantime, my neighbors have given me a lot to think about as I seek to understand the true definition of neighbor, the way Jesus the Messiah meant it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

*Maude is a pseudonym. \u00a0Latifeh and Hussein are the real names of my neighbors who collaborated with me on this article. Thank you, habibti, for your beautiful stories.<\/p>\n

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