Lost in translation?

Let me relate one of my favorite stories to illustrate what I'm talking about.

He was once asked what it is that we should do more than anything else; that is, what is the most important guiding principle for our lives. I think that's a pretty straight forward request. Being the good Jew that he was, he responded that really there are two of them: Love Gd, and love your neighbor as yourself. Well, anyone who doesn't believe in Gd really can't do much with the first one, but the second one seems applicable no matter who you are. And it's at times like these that he just bugs the bejeezuz (if you'll excuse the pun) out of us. But, it's at this point that things get interesting.

The response begs the question: who is my neighbor. It would appear that we have decided in the meantime that my "neighbor" is anyone I like or can stand, and everyone else isn't, so we can all pretty well pick and choose who that is. It might be the folks next door (unless their jerks) or it can be people who tell me what I want to hear, say on bowling night or at church on Sunday, or the like. One of the problems, though is that he never said "neighbor". That's just how it ended up being translated into English. What did he really say?

In actual fact, the word he used in that line (as it was recorded, in Greek, we must remember) was πλησιον (plesion). The word derives from the preposition for "near, next to, near by" and in a neuter noun; that is, it doesn't refer specifically either to males or females, rather it applies to everyone. In English we'd have to say, "whoever happens to be near you". Not very spiffy, so we end up with "neighbor" but it turns out that "neighbor" is simply too weak a word to do the statement justice.

There is a huge difference between whomever I happen to be with, as opposed, for example, to one's "neighbor". Do we have any choice about who's next to us, who's near us ... not just feeling-wise, not just spiritually, not just emotionally, but physically as well. All of a sudden, this sounds more like a challenge than simple advice. It's is, without a doubt, not the answer that we want to hear, not by a long shot.

Have you ever stopped at any random time during your day: at the mall, at the supermarket, at work, on the bus or train or subway, or just walking down the street? You should. You should just stop sometime and look at who's next to you, and then you should think real hard: "This is the person I should love as much as myself." What do you think?