Love your neighbor. This is what you are called to do. You are called to do this as a Christian. You are called to do this as a US Citizen. You are called to do this as a member of the human race. You are called to love your neighbor.
Your neighbor isn't just the person who lives next to you. It's the person who lives in the neighborhood next to yours. It's the person who lives in the city next to yours. In the state next to yours. In the country way across the sea from yours. It's the person with the big mansion and the person who doesn't have a home. They are all your neighbors. Everyone is your neighbor.
Your neighbor might not look just like you. They might be white. They might be black. They might be Asian, or Hispanic, or Native American. They might be another nationality, ethnicity, or race. Love them anyways.
Your neighbor might not think like you. They might not define themselves by the genders you accept. They might have a different sexual orientation from you. They might be of a different religion. Love them anyways.
Your neighbor might be someone you don't like. They might even be someone you hate. They might do things you think should be punishable by law. They might do things that are punishable by law. Love them anyways.
Love those you hate. Love those you fear. Love those you don't understand. Love the people who voted for Hillary Clinton. Love the people who voted for Donald Trump. Love the people who voted third party. Love the people who didn't vote at all. Love the people, all the people.
You aren't called to discriminate your love to those you deem worthy of it. Not your neighborly love. Your neighborly love is supposed to extend to everyone.
Give it to the Syrian refugees fighting to survive while watching the country they called home crumble around them. Give it to the homeless drug addict who begs you for money in the Walmart parking lot. Give it to the woman who chose to have an abortion. Give it to the person who breaks a window in a riot. Give it to the person who cuts you off in traffic. Give it to the slow fast food worker. Give it to the criminal who can't get a job. Give it to the mom with three kids on welfare. Give it to everyone. Give it regardless of circumstance. Give it because you can. Give it because you should.
You don't have to agree with someone to give them your neighborly love. You don't have to like them, or their ideas to show them compassion, and sympathy, and love. You don't have to understand where they're coming from to be gracious to them.
Loving your neighbor doesn't require you to agree with your neighbor. It doesn't require you to like them or understand where they're coming from. Loving your neighbor requires you to see that individual as a human. It requires you to look past the fear and conflict and see them as a human deserving of compassion, sympathy, grace, and love. You are called to love your neighbor. By your God. By your country. By your status as a member of the human race. In this time of political turmoil, don't forget this call. Don't forget that you can choose how you respond to conflict. Choose love.
