AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? - THE NEED FOR NEIGHBOURLINESS

AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? - THE NEED FOR NEIGHBOURLINESS

The above statement is an excerpt from the Bible, where after slaying his brother out of jealousy Cain rather rudely responds to the Lord knowing fully well what he had done. The scripture is;
Genesis 4:9 KJV
[9] And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
The thought that comes to mind on processing that response is "really now Cain??

Fast forward to this present moment and ask ourselves Cain's question specifically and explicitly without rhetoric, am I my brother's keeper?
If the world is to be a better place our answer to that question should be a resounding unequivocal yes!

No one is an island no matter how capable because as people we work with other people, through other people and for other people. Therefore it is important to be concerned about the next person's well being lest we fail to get the cooperation and collaboration we need when the need arises because we watched the demise of our neighbour from a distance when we could have lended them a helping hand when they needed it most.

If such an attitude takes root in us we
head into a disjointed, dysfunctional, arrogant and narcissistic society which will neither grow nor develop harmoniously.

 There is a very thin line and gray area between minding one's own business and irresponsible citizenship.

Tough economic circumstances and austerity measures create in us inward looking personality traits which make little to no room for the next person at all. We think only of ourselves and immediate relations, what happens to the next person outside our personal circle we ignore turning blind eyes and deaf ears too.

As a progressive society or if we are to be one there is need to be brother and sister's keepers who would pull together and prop one another up through the highs and lows.

Whilst we acknowledge the existence of individual brilliance in some people
who appear to single handedly execute tasks these are are exceptions rather than norms. They are outliers standing out in a broader society which pretty well conforms to normal distribution analyses.

It is the broader society that needs to be united and adopt the spirit of collaboration, we could do our things separately and record varying degrees of success, however working together and joining strengths we stand to be formidable and register even greater enduring success.

There is strength in numbers and joining forces, we realise through collaboration that the whole as is often said is indeed greater than the some of its parts. When greats come together they produce phenomenal results and there is exponential success from the endless possibilities of what they can achieve.

A good example is a combination of athletes, stars and maestros in their own rights who get drafted into a team formation and leave rival teams confounded by the total skill, talent and genius unleashed upon them.

One such team plays soccer in the European leagues and the combination of stars has actually been given a name MSN, this acronym is derived from their names.
There is a similar combination of stars in the soccer leagues of Southern Africa who also have an acronym derived from their names, they are called CBD and when they swing into action surely they mean business.

We have given just two examples for supporting the advocation for team-work and looking out for one another among many other examples across codes and disciplines as well as daily living in our communities.

Knowing the chances of success they stand working together, don't you think dear reader that these soccer stars mentioned above would take it upon themselves to ensure their team mates and indeed brothers are well and sound all the time. If not they do something to help one another to full recovery and back to winning ways?
I am convinced if today we had the opportunity to ask them "are you your brother's keeper?" they would respond with that resounding yes!

Mother Theresa said Lord may I never look down upon a fellow human being unless if it is to help them up. The need to look after one another as brothers, sisters and neighbors cannot be over-emphasised.

We are much better off pulling together than as individuals pulling in different directions. The Bible says in
Ecclesiastes 4:9 KJV
[9] Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
Indeed we have a good reward for our labour working together.

This is also a call to society to be alive to the sufferings and plight of fellow humanity in all places especially poor widows and orphans who tend to find themselves helpless disadvantaged, marginalised and sidelined with no one to give them a voice or the platform to express themselves.

In Africa we have what is called the spirit of "ubuntu", the essence of that really is to say " I am because you are" Ubuntu is responsible citizenship it has everything to do with how I interact with the external environment from a position of responsibility and respect.
The spirit of ubuntu says YES! I am my brother's keeper.!

The Rotarians have a motto "service above self" which is exactly what brother's keepers do, the work that they do and service to humanity is commendable and remarkable.
Many a child's smile has been restored after cleft lip operations in our own Mpilo hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe with the help of Rotary. We salute that kind of work and draw inspiration from it.

Many other individuals and organisations do the same in different ways and it goes a long way in addressing and alleviating the suffering of other people, it is the true spirit of ubuntu, the spirit of responsible citizenship.

There might not be legally binding grounds for people to be there and look out for one another but it behoves us as people to do it.

Authentic responsible citizenship comes from deep within us with no need for rules and laws to be passed compelling us to do it. It is refreshing and heartening when people get together and out of their way in response to the plight of those who need help out of their own volition.


Together we can make the world a better place little by little in our own
spaces and communities, the collective and cumulative effort speaks volumes and yields phenomenal exponentially growing results.

Am I, are you, are we our brothers and sisters' keepers? Food for thought.

THE GOLDEN WORD FOUNTAIN - (TGWF)