Christian sociology; Labor -- United States; Labor movement -- United States; Working class -- United States
=The Good Neighbor.= We are “members one of another.” The basic
industries provide the necessities of our lives--feeding, housing,
clothing, warmth, means of traveling, and the things which are part
and parcel of our very being. The workers who are engaged in producing
these things are true servants of humanity, and we are all under deep
and abiding obligations to them. Just in the proportion that we produce
something that adds to the wealth and happiness of the world, we are
discharging the obligation which others by their labors have placed
upon us. The division into classes, and the setting off of groups by
themselves, the creating of the world of labor as a world apart, makes
the practise of neighborliness a difficult thing. Now neighborliness
is the very essence of Christianity. To be a friend of man ought to
be the supreme desire of every individual. In the parable of the
Good Samaritan Jesus defined the meaning of Christianity in terms of
neighborliness. The church must answer this question: How can Christian
people be good neighbors in modern industrial society?
=Neighbor to the Group.= We recognize the call to neighborliness in
individual cases. If a man is knocked down by an automobile when he
is crossing a street, people will run to help him to his feet, will
call a cab or an ambulance, and he will be cared for just as carefully
by the stranger as if he were a near relative. The individual idea
of neighborliness is thoroughly appreciated. We have learned how to
practise it. When it comes to a group, however, we find it difficult.
The same men that would rush into the street to help an individual that
is hurt, will live in a community and not appreciate the needs of the
people living in the same block. The industrial class may be knocked
down by adverse social conditions, and no one will recognize just what
the situation means; or, recognizing it, will know how to apply the
remedy, or even how to offer intelligent assistance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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