If you are like 75% of Americans, the neighbors next door are actually the next door strangers: only 25% of Americans surveyed knew their neighbors by name. Modern life contributes, of course. The pace is fast. Technology allows us to easily engage with people beyond our neighborhood. Much of our work and play is away from home. All these factors and more mean that we have little down time to chat with the people who live next door or across the street or on the other side of the fence.
In this episode of Persuasion, Erin Straza and Hannah Anderson dissect how modern life has changed the way we interact with those who live in close proximity. But modern life doesn’t negate Jesus’ call to be true neighbors to one another. So what does that look like in this day? Erin and Hannah share a few of their own love-you-neighbor fails and consider ways to overcome the next door strangers dilemma. Discussion wraps with a summary of Hannah’s 2016 article at Christ and Pop Culture on the kindness of Mister Rogers and how he modeled the sort of neighbor we should strive to be. Being mindful of the people in your neighborhood or in your daily path is the first step in getting to know their names and their stories, a small sort of kindness that our world needs more of. Do you know your neighbors? We’d like to hear about the ones you appreciate and the ones you want to know. Stop out on Twitter to answer the Question of the Day: Who are your neighbors?
Listen to Persuasion Episode 99:
Links from Episode 99:
Do You Know Your Neighbor’s Name? A Shocking Number of People Don’t, Forbes
Nextdoor app is as strong as its neighbors, Washington Post
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Reconciliation and Foot-Washing in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, by Hannah Anderson
Theme music by Maiden Name.
