Last month, I had the privilege of attending a one-day workshop event with former megachurch pastor, Rob Bell. He is known for his fresh take on ancient ideas, and brings clarity to opaque concepts within the Judeo-Christian tradition. “Scholar,” “mystic,” and “spiritual communicator,” are apt descriptions of the man who saw his church grow to over 10,000 members by teaching through the book of Leviticus in a year. All that being said, I was very happy to get an invitation to spend a day interacting with him in person. But this piece is less about Rob Bell, and more about something specific he said, something I think everyone in our community would benefit from reading; albeit second-hand, and with an element of my own experience thrown in.
“You know how we can often develop a preconceived notion of people, especially the negative kinds of ideas?” he said. Everyone in the audience nodded. “You know, we hear about those people, who come from that place, and they have that color of skin, and dress that way. And we are told that they are dangerous, scary, and don’t have anything in common with us. You all know what I’m talking about, right?” Again, head-nods of recognition and agreement from the crowd. “But then, one of those people actually moves in next door. And guess what? They turn out to be the best neighbor you have ever had! They turn out to be the exact opposite of what we have been told to expect.” For a third time, we all nodded and smiled in agreement. Rob’s face changed from a glowing, wide smile, to a somber and painful grimace. “Aaaaaand now, there is this thing that wants to build a wall.” An audible groan could be heard from the crowd. We too stopped smiling as the weight of one of our Presidential nominee’s aspirations hit us, Donald Trump wants to put up a wall, a wall that would keep out people like the neighbors we have come to love.
As I processed Rob’s words, I thought of my neighbor in Houghton. Pan is an Indian-Canadian citizen, and is the proud, hard-working owner of the Hanson Farms in Fillmore. His customer-service is exceptional, but more than that, he really cares about the people that come into his store, including me. Over the year I’ve known him, he has taken time to inquire about my work and school schedule and made sure to send his visiting sons to play with mine. On more than one occasion he has offered to let me borrow his minivan. Pan is a brown-skinned immigrant, and he is a great neighbor. I’m so glad that he is a small part of my life.
I tell you about Pan because he can be seen as a stand-in for millions of other neighbors, coworkers, and acquaintances. He is here, sharing our little community, because he wants to build the best life he can for his family. And while he is doing that, he makes our lives better too. But that thing Rob mentioned, that fascist running to be the leader of our country, wants to put up a wall to keep people like Pan out of our communities. He is hell-bent on dividing our world into “us” vs “them,” where “us” always means anyone just like me, and “them” refers to anyone I perceive to be different. And “we” are supposed to keep “them” as far away as possible.
To hell with that! Not only do I like my neighbor, but I recognize that “our” wholeness is dependent on building a shared community with whoever “they” are. And if you claim to follow in the path of a rabbi from Nazareth, even if you haven’t had the positive experience I’ve had with the “other,” I hope you will at least remember a story he told one time, a story about how one of “them” helped out an injured Jew. One can only wonder, what did the injured Jew think of Samaritans after he woke up in the inn, only to find that his rescue had come from the person he had been told to fear and hate his entire life. Do you think the Jew from that parable would support building a wall?
Matt is a junior philosophy major.