Love Your Neighbour

We, human beings, are hardly grateful creatures to whatever privelege we are currently enjoying and tend to take it for granted unless and until we lost it. Only then we start mourning and remembering it and pray & ask for it to come back. Sometimes an individual accident or a national natural disaster like Tsunami in Aceh becomes a good way for the “nature” to remind us of the importance of thank-giving. There are another way to be grateful to what we already posses without any need to wait for a thief to steal our properties: by looking at someone else who yet to have it and desperately want it. Here’s one story I’d like to share.

A few days back, in a casual get-together with a Laos student along with some Indian friends we talk about each other countries, cities and travelling. The Laos student told us that he regularly visits some ASEAN countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, etc.

An Indian friend casually responded, “Well, it must be tiring to get so many visas from many different countries.” He replied also in casual tone, “we dont even need any visa to travel around ASEAN countries.” All our Indian friends looked so surprised and then they start appreciating us who are able to maintain a very good relations with our neighbours. At the same time they also complaining their not-so-good relations with their neighboring countris specially Pakistan and China. So, it’s so hard for them to go to both countries, specially to Pakistan who just before seven decades ago was a country called Hindustan which consist of now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

When I along with the Laos guy were going home together he’s unusually quiet. I dont know what he’s thinking. Probably, he thought of how fortunate we are, the ASEAN nations. And how unfortunate they’re who cant have a good relation with their neighbours. I think, he might’ve also thought how important our neighbours are as important as ourselves. And above all, how important it’s to live in peace with neighbors and with all humans around the world; as advanced technology has made the world a smaller place where geographical border no longer exist and hence, each of this planet residents are our neighbours.[]