Am I My Brother's Keeper?

Leah's question to me this morning was "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"

This came out of morning sermon that was on the television. The pastor was talking about how we should be one another's keepers. How neighbors should look out for each other and we should respect one another, and love each other as we love ourselves. This led to a heavy early morning discussion about 'the Golden Rule'. Also known as the ethic of reciprocity. Leah asked if this was just from the Bible. I told her that the essence of the Golden Rule is much older than that one line in Deuteronomy that says "Love your neighbor as you love yourself", known as the 'Great Commandment'. It can be found in the times of Ancient Babylon, in the Code of Hammurabi. It can be found in nearly every spiritual and religious belief.

She grasped enough of the idea. She asked "What if someone does not love themselves?" Good question. We discussed reasons why people may be unhappy in their lives and why they may suffer from low self-esteem. What we can do in our day to day actions to help those people in our lives who may be in a rut.

So after discussing all of this I posed her original question to her "Are you your brother's keeper?" to which Leah replied "Yes. And I think he is my keeper as well."

Leah said that she thinks it is probably a good idea to just follow the Golden Rule all the time. I have to agree with her. Sometimes having positive intent can make all the difference.

Our Sunday morning conversations tend to be heavier than our day to day conversations. Probably has to do with my habit of watching Sunday morning pastoral programs and CBS Sunday Morning.