Untukmu Para Pengunjung

The other day I went to visit Alice & Mac, and one of our other neighbours, Gogo ("grandmother"), was there. She asked if we could have a prayer together, and I was really moved by her prayer. It went something like this, "Dear God, thank you for birds. I thank you for the way they chirp in the morning, waking me up, and making me realize that I am not alone. Many people try to kill these birds, but I love them. I thank you for times when a car drives by my house very early in the morning, because it reminds me that I may have visitors. I also thank you for my daughter in Australia. She is very far away, but sometimes she sends me postcards, and she promised that one day she will let me come and live with her. I know she must be very happy with her family, and so I pray that you would bless her." Walking by Gogo's house is a bit of a risk, because if she sees you, you'll be caught talking for quite a while (and likely having the same conversation you had the day prior), but she is a daily reminder to me that life is hard to go through when you feel alone.

There is also a men's shelter on our compound. I was asking the security guard the other day how the men find money for alcohol (because around the neighbourhood, I often see them drunk). He explained that when well-wishers come, they will often bring things like soap or socks. And then the men use these items to sell and then buy alcohol. "We try to check them at the gate, to make sure that they're not carrying out their things to sell, but you know, these men are so lonely and hurting, that they just want to buy alcohol. Alcohol allows them to forget for a short while, so they will sell all they have for it."

Loneliness (which is so different from solitude) can be such a soul-destroying disease. All of the major religions have some sort of notion of loving our neighbours, and yet there seem to be a lot of neighbours in our world who feel really alone. Sometimes I wonder if loving our neighbours gets lost in the debates about the more "complex" areas of religion.