“All the lonely people. Where do they all come from?” And in answer to Paul McCartney’s question penned in 1966 they are there because we leave them to their loneliness and don’t bother.

Telling people to love their neighbours, Jesus answered a question “Who is my neighbour? “by broadening  it out even to strangers in desperate need.(The beaten up man found by the Samaritan.) Surely it must be easier to knock on the door of the flat next to us, than to take on the rough sleeper.

 In times of shared calamity, people are drawn together, as in the last war, and of course in the recent appalling acts of terror, but do we need to wait for calamity to show love? Do you actually know who lives next to you?

The other day I came home amazed to see that both my tall hazel hedge and my neighbours’ hedge had been neatly trimmed ! My neighbour didn’t do it so who did? There’s love !

But it’s not so much DOING things for people. Asking a neighbour a favour  e.g......I’ve run out of eggs....is received more warmly than the other way round. I think that the greatest loneliness is from those who have very few people to talk to.

So, when exhausted from a long day’s work, and  you’ve hot footed it from the station....remember that next door maybe someone who can never get out at all and would love to just exchange one or two pleasantries.

Elspeth Jackman of Christchurch St.Albans

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