Love your Neighbor as Yourself

I really believe that Mike and I try to put service to others as a integral part of our lives. To me, what other purpose to life could there be? But sometimes, I get discouraged because it feels like no one really helps us. In the age of social networking, you would think it would make friendships stronger instead of just - cursory. Sometimes it feels like accepting a friend request or liking someone's status update makes people feel like they have done their part being your friend for the day. There are so many times when I hear people say, "let me know if there is anything I can do to help," but it seems empty because most people know that if you actually come up with something and ask the person to do it, most often the response will be that they are somehow busy or otherwise engaged. Helping someone out is really only an option when it isn't an inconvenience. We do it half heartedly when we throw ourselves all the way into the things that we want to pursue. Instead of just doing something nice for someone else, somehow we feel like we are off the hook as long as we just make the offer. And not only this, society seems to dictate that actually asking for help isn't something you should do. People feel embarrassed or ashamed and generally push people who know they need help away because it somehow makes you feel stronger. We have become suspicious if someone wants to help us and sometimes even offended. And we have learned asking for help is an annoyance or bother to others so we just don't do it.

Society has made us on-demand, instant gratification, have it your way, put yourself first, that was easy, at the push of a button, suck it up, just take what you can, put your best foot forward, no need to compromise, don't get in my way, all men for themselves people who often find ourselves having everything we could possibly want and confused about the lonely, empty feeling we have inside. So how to we change this? How do we actually start loving our neighbors as ourselves? How do we really start to truly connect and feel like a community? How can we start asking one another for help? And when asked for help, how do we administer it passionately without even thinking about how it negatively impacts our original plans? How do we make time for friends on a weekly basis instead of keeping them at arms length on a buddy list? How do we move away from cooking meals for two to always making some extra just in case someone stops by? How do we shift our priorities from achieving personal success to measuring our success based on how well we have loved others?

Sigh. Maybe I am just having a rough morning. Sometimes humanity amazes me and others it just makes me sad.