In all the world religions, we are told that caring for others is like caring for ourselves. From Hinduism comes “Wish for others what you yourself long for”; Islam says, “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself”; “Love thy neighbor as thyself” is found in Leviticus and confirmed by Jesus. In the Baha’i faith we learn, “Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.”
In May 2020, as so many of us were suddenly feeling alone and isolated, we began gathering in our neighborhood at 6 in the evening to say hello to each other. Other neighborhoods in other parts of the world were doing the same.
It seemed such a good idea our local paper sent a reporter. I was happy simply to step outside my door and speak to anyone who wasn’t my husband or son (love them dearly, as I do!). It felt like a moment where we could be part of a united planet – united in our suffering, but also in our joy.
Initially, we intended the gathering to be a two minute commitment. But as we talked, those two minutes turned into 10 … and then 20. We started out standing in the street, but when one of our elderly participants found standing for that long difficult, we moved to his driveway. We brought chairs and cushions. We stayed longer. Twenty minutes became 40.
At some point, we started a group text so we could keep track of one another. On the anniversary of my mother’s death, our family took an RV trip to scatter her ashes. We texted our neighbors that we missed them. They texted back:
In the fall, it grew colder. And darker. Two of our members realized they needed to move across the state to be closer to their children. Another bought a portable fire pit so we could keep meeting. We roasted marshmallows, joking that the sticks we were using were 3 feet long so they kept us 6 feet apart. We shoveled snow to make room for chairs.
Though we stopped meeting every day years ago, we didn’t stop needing each other. Instead, we now have a weekly potluck, scheduled by the same text string we started five years ago.
The Baha’i faith tells us, “Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face.”
The meetings maintained our sanity in the height of the pandemic. Now neighbors have turned into friends. We meet because we want to. And we’re still texting:
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