Emma and I have usually been blessed with good neighbors. We do little favors for each other, and life is better. Emma’s mother and father were able to live independently for so long because they have good neighbors. I don’t know why conservatives mock Hillary Clinton’s fondness for “It takes a village.” Clinton takes her share of wrong-headed stances, but when she acknowledges community, she acknowledges a concern that transcends politics. Maybe that’s why conservatives mock her: what they can’t claim, they revile.
But this isn’t the time to think of bad neighbors or divide them by politics. I’ve known good people of just about every political persuasion. Here’s to good neighbors!
Yesterday, for First Neighbor Day, we ate Mexican food, because there just isn’t a convenient way to get South American food in this part of Illinois, and I didn’t have time to cook. Horchata is one of the great refreshing drinks.
For Second Neighbor Day, I had hoped to make lefse. Last year’s batch was surprisingly easy and delicious, if not quite as beautifully thin as a Norwegian grandmother would make. But time didn’t allow, so we had passably European vegetable soup for lunch and pasta for dinner.
People helping their neighbors, being friendly, etc. are good things. Trying to replace them with government action is a bad thing.
I’ve never heard of Neighbor Days before. I hope it isn’t another Hallmark invention.
The Neighbor Days are part of World Week.
Now, I don’t expect you to agree, but some governments are good, and some are bad. Governments are only associations of people. In the bad ones, a few people organize things for their benefit. In the good ones, everyone benefits. No government is perfect, just as no person is perfect, but good governments are the only way to have things like universal health care. Which, yes, are opposed by people whose philosophy is “I’ve got mine, Jack.”