A Pet Rabbit and Good Neighbors
We lived in one of our houses in Princeton, NJ for ten years. We had nice neighbors, but their niceness was tested. Our whole family was away from home on a Saturday morning and when we returned, we saw a couple of people in one of the households run over to our house.
We learned that one neighbor had seen a dog opening the cage of our pet rabbit, Flower, and had grabbed it by the neck and was shaking it vigorously. Our neighbor on the right had seen this happen and ran out to break up the attack. The neighbors on the left came outside to look for any damage that had been done. They all concluded that the rabbit should go to the veterinarian, which the neighbors on the left quickly obliged. The vet gave our pet an injection which produced a long life for our rabbit.
Both neighbors did a wonderful thing. They intervened when our family was not able to do so. Most of us would love to have those kinds of neighbors.
An option that many chose was to emigrate to Canada.
The Bible gives a lot of advice about living peaceably with neighbors because living with them is not always easy. That is why Matthew 22:40 says “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” If living well with neighbors were obvious and easy, that verse might not have been included.
During the war in Vietnam, the people of the US were divided on the morality of that war, especially young draft-age men. There were thousands of young men who believed that the war was immoral and felt a call of conscience to refuse to participate. An option that many chose was to emigrate to Canada. The Canadian government did not encourage them to come to their country, and it did not change its strict immigration policy. The young men had to have a certain number of points to achieve landed immigrant status and stay in Canada legally. However, the Canadian government also concluded that resisting the draft was not a sufficient reason to prevent Americans from applying for landed immigrant status.
In my opinion, allowing American war resisters to emigrate was an act of a good neighbor because it was a kindness to let Americans in legal jeopardy stay and it caused less disruption in American society than it would have if thousands of Americans had wound up in prison.
President Carter granted draft resisters in Canada amnesty on his first day as president. Many American resisters returned to the States, but also many have stayed in Canada. Views about the war in Vietnam changed in both the US and Canada.
As Christians how can we be good neighbors moving into the future?
During the time of legalized slavery in the US, many enslaved people escaped slavery by going to Canada. Many Americans and Canadians held hands together to help slaves escape enslavement by creating an organization called the underground railroad. When enslaved people crossed the border they were welcomed by Canadians and helped to become citizens of their new nation. A number of churches in Detroit are proud of the role they played as the last stop on the Underground Railroad before the enslaved people entered Windsor, Ontario.
Canada and the US have different histories and made very different choices about dealing with slavery and other social issues. Both nations are strong and mostly have had a good experience being neighbors. One country taking over another is why most Americans and Canadians oppose Russia’s taking over Ukraine. Such an action is really stealing something that does not belong to the thief.
As Christians how can we be good neighbors moving into the future? Can churches offer a picture of what it looks like for our nations to be good neighbors? What can our experiences with good neighbors, such as mine in New Jersey, teach us about being good national neighbors? As we face challenges in the future, how can American and Canadians continue to work together? It’s my hope that considering these questions can put us on the road to being good neighbors.
