Love Your Neighbour

Whenever there is a dispute in a community, it seems somebody drags out the quote, “Love your neighbour.” The idea is to show everybody that somebody isn’t practising love in the situation.

However, they are missing two important words from the quote. It should read, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

What does this mean? Here is how I take it.

Do you really love yourself? I remember being taught as a child that loving yourself was equal to being selfish. As I grew older, I found that this thought wasn’t necessarily true.

We all know people who are so into themselves that they don’t have any consideration or time for others. Everything is all about them. They are at the centre of their universe. I am not too fond of being around people who are this full of themselves.

We also know people who are so modest that their feelings about themselves are of little worth. I am even less fond of being around these people, and this includes myself when I feel this way.

I teach many kids who don’t love themselves. Being around them can really drag you down. The world seems suddenly gloomy and negative. There is no laughter.

I think it is important to love yourself. This means being confident of yourself. It means wanting the very best for yourself and not accepting any less.

Why, then, is it important to love yourself? For me, the reason is so that when I give my gifts to others, I feel I am giving something valuable.

Let’s pretend that I look upon myself as fine rubies. When I give my rubies to friends, relatives, even enemies, I know I am giving something precious. In most cases, they feel that they are getting something special.

Now let’s pretend that I look upon myself as gravel from the driveway. When I give this to others, I don’t feel very special. Unless the recipient is making a driveway, the gift isn’t deemed with much value.

Don’t feel guilty if you want to love yourself a lot. Anyway, there are enough people in the world who will try to make you feel small.

Give yourself a big hug today and tell yourself how wonderful you are.