The Sound Of A Distant Drum
On Saturday evening as I returned from my walk I noticed one of my neighbours struggling to turn over the soil in a new made border of her front garden. To make life easier they had changed the design of the front garden and had a raised border installed. The people who had built the wall had left without digging the compacted soil and she was finding it very difficult. Knowing her husband is unable to dig due to arthritis, I decided to get up very early on Easter morning and pop round and turn it over for her. By the time she rose and came out to walk her little dog it was finished. Happy Easter.
But that is what being a neighbour is about, is it not? It seems not. This morning on the news I heard the results of a survey taken in the UK. 35% of the people in the uk it seems to do not know who their neighbours are. Of the other 65% more than half hardly, if ever talk to their neighbours.
So I thought I would share this list of friendship. I know it is a bit contrived and could do with improving so please feel free to change it.
A Friend (Neighbour)
Is
Accepts you as you are
Believes in "you"
Calls you just to say "HI"
Doesn't give up on you
Envisions the whole of you (even the unfinished parts)
Forgives your mistakes
Gives unconditionally
Helps you
Invites you over
Just "be" with you
Keeps you close at heart
Loves you for who you are
Makes a difference in your life
Never Judges
Offers support
Picks you up
Quiets your fears
Raises your spirits
Says nice things about you
Tells you the truth when you need to hear it
Understands you
Values you
Walks beside you
X-plains thing you don't understand
Yells when you won't listen and
Zaps you back to reality
I suppose it comes back to the age old question. Who is my neighbour?
This blog is linked to my other.The Sound Of A Distant Drum
Now there's a hard list to live by... I don't know too many neighbors that are like that. It sounds more like what a best friend is. Unfortunately we don't all get to have best friends for neighbors. But it's nice to think neighbors could be like this...
ReplyDeleteI remember my mother making friends of neighbors the whole time I was growing up. Some became very dear to all of us. Most are gone now. But the memories have stayed with me. So when I moved away at the tender age of 19, I just assumed that all neighbors could be good friends!! I was always trying..but rebuffed in many ways. After getting married..I figured that I would have more in common with neighbors but it wasn't to be. We moved around a bit..but we have lived at the same address now for 30 years and our neighbors are strangers to us. Not for a lack of trying but they want to do whatever they want, they don't want me making friendly overtures. They prefer to be left alone, yet do whatever they want even if it has a negative effect on the immediate neighbors. I am sad that I have never been able to make friends of the many families that have moved in and out of the houses closest to us. The children have been easier to talk to but their parents are cold. I wonder what is wrong with people that they rebuff any attempts at friendliness. Sometimes the relationships have been downright contentious. The first time I saw our new family next door I went to the fence to say hello and welcome them to the neighborhood. The woman glared at me with such contempt that it actually frightened me!!! They have been there now for several years and are just as unfriendly as ever. I envy you your good neighbors. be thankful and enjoy! Someday I hope to move somewhere where the climate is not so frozen if you get my drift!!!
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