Reflections on Life and Faith,
by David Keating

Won't You be my Neighbour?

November 25, 2006

By David Keating

     "Won't You Be My Neighbour?" The line, of course, was made famous by Fred Rogers on the children's show Mr. Roger's Neighbourhood.

     In researching this column I found out that Rogers, who I had known was a Presbyterian minister, had first developed his show in Canada, along with Ernie Coombs, of Mr. Dressup fame. I count myself lucky to have grown up with both of them, not to mention Bob Homme and The Friendly Giant.

     "Won't You Be My Neighbour?" is a question that should be particularly urgent for us today. In the world of Rogers and Coombs and Homme, the message was simple. We're all neighbours. We can all live together, and the world is big enough for all of us.

     There weren't any qualifications in their worlds, make-believe though they may have been. Rogers didn't sing "Won't you be my neighbour if ..." and then limit who he was talking to. He just looked into the camera and invited everyone to join him in his neighbourhood. Likewise the Friendly Giant's "big chair for two people to curl up in". (though I confess to preferring the "rocking chair for those who like to rock") was open to all visitors to the castle. And Mr. Dressup's Tickle Trunk was always full of new ways to encourage young viewers to encounter the world around them without fear.

     In a very real sense, those shows were modern parables of the Good Samaritan. You know the one, where all the righteous folks pass by the guy beat up on the side of the road, and it’s the fella that has every reason to keep on going who not only stops but digs into his own pocket to help out.

     Times change I guess. There was a similar scene recently in a television show I watch. I'll spare you the details but suffice it to say that our heroes passed by the person on the side of the road, and in spite of a little headshaking and moral angst on their part at the necessity in doing so, it was portrayed as the right choice.

     Who is my neighbour? The story of the Good Samaritan was Jesus' answer to that question.

     It's a question we need to continue to ask ourselves today. The people who passed by the Samaritan did so out of fear. They knew, like the guys in that TV show, that the bad guys often left their last victim out where they could be seen, hoping for someone to be foolish enough to stop. Bait, in other words. The Samaritan knew it too. And stopped anyway. At risk to his own safety.

     The Samaritan in Jesus' story set aside his fear in order to do the right thing, to help someone else, even someone from a place that considered him their enemy. And he spent his own money. Money I'm sure his family could have put to good use as well.

     We seem to be all too ready to limit our neighbours to those who think like us, or act like us, or look like us. We congratulate ourselves on our willingness to invite anyone to join us. As long as they think like us, and act like us, and look like us.

     I'm not just thinking of people half a world away, although it certainly applies. What about the fella we pass by on the street? The one sitting hat in hand hoping for a few coins? He certainly doesn't look like us, all unkempt and dirty. He doesn't act like us; we wouldn't be caught dead begging on the street. And he obviously doesn't think like us. We'd never let ourselves get in that position in the first place.

     Can't he be our neighbour?

David Keating