is peace a good thing? well yes, but what do you do if someone wont let you live in peace?

can we avoid all this by loving our neighbor?


your thoughts..................................................

It's easier said then done like for example if you live next to a bunch of a-holes. I live next to a guy who constantly screams at his wife,kids,dog etc. and on the other side a family of slutty lushes.

See the thing is you can't get along with everybody and peace unless it is enforce by law and government is an impossibility because not everyone will get along.

Love thy neighbor is an impossibility and peace will never happen.

Loving your neighbour is important, and should not be contingent upon your neighbour also "liking" you in return. If we Love only those who Love us, then we're not really doing anything special, right. Isn't that what most people do anyway?

What does it mean to love ones neighbour? I think people mistake Loving your neighbour with being nice to them. Not to say that being nice isn't a good thing, but it's not the be all and end all. You can be polite to your neighbours without Loving them.

The abusive guy who yells at his wife/kids/family pet doesn't need people to be nice to him. How is it Loving to stand back, be polite and nod a casual "hi" when you see them as if there's nothing wrong. What would be the Loving response? Helping them to find help? They obviously have issues they need to work out. Be there to listen to their problems, point them in the direction of a counselor, perhaps. Love them. Care for them as fellow human beings. Or we could largely ignore them. Smile and wave and pretend that there's no problem.

The first response is not the "nice" thing to do, but it is the Loving thing to do.

More generally though, as I said, Loving your neighbour entails much more than being nice, or placating, or just being peaceful. It requires a proactive choice to go out and actively do something for someone else.

Regards, PA

You don't HAVE to "love" your neighbour. You just have to respect your neighboor, and if they don't respect you, leave them alone, don't communicate with them. If they bother you, there are ways of dealing with it non-violently.

But nobody is perfect, and you can't expect them to be. So just remember that.

At the very least one who is abused gives the highest expression of love, in loving them they tell them that this i not who you are and its not who i am and i will not allow this for either of us...., at he very least the abuse stops and that is always a good thing......and help is also a good thing.....

Ex, all things begin with self and proceed out wards, one resepects themselves first then they can resepct others.....why would you resepct the behaioral expression of one who is harming another human being....When you give one your resepct its because their behavioral expression is of quality and merit...one must learn to know the difference you simply wouldn't asssociate with them......

Sheri you should know that two wrongs don't make a right. Hating your neighbour because they are disrespectful or harmful, will not solve anything. All it will do is cause your neighbour to hate you. All you can do is respect them and hope they respect you.

Now if you don't like their actions, then it might want to sit down with them and have a chat about respect. And if you see that they are still abusing their kids or pet then the last thing you can do is call the police or something like that.

What would ignoring or disrespecting your neighbour accomplish?

Ex , i absoulutley I agree all others will be treated the way i treat myself......All things proceed from self first....It never matters what another is doing it only matters on what I do in response to it...do i react to them or do i crreate peace and harmony where ever i go...In any situation I find myself in i ask Who am i in relation to this who do i choose to be....Its truly all about you.....hate is man made......i choose love always......

Well, peace is defined differently by many, and also the attainment of peace. If someone verbally attacks you, walk away or kill them with kindness....if they physically attack you or family, attack back....then the winner defines the terms of peace.

You adapt to the situation love can be defined many ways too, All one ever learns from violence is it gets more of it but sometimes you have to go to war make peace...of course we try not to but .........


Hey arty...
Question...: neighbors kids steal from your house...you do not approve os this as part of your game plan...you have reached a moment that a pivotal desicion needs to made ...do you 'turn the other cheek noone is perfect or do you decide and define how your neighbor will be treating you regardless, becasue stealing isn't part of your character makeup....you do not steal from others .... and how do you go about this and whats the point.....and why....

Hey Sympa? Sheri It's been a while.

Although it would be nice to have a world with no bickering, no wars....I just don't think its possible. Maybe in a global stability sense its possible, but not in everyday one on one interactions. As you stated above, it starts with self, yet everyone operates differently and has different aspirations thus influencing their actions. I believe though when the time arises, you must fight for peace, and sometimes fighting means killing.

Indeed Arty it has been a while ..PM me dude i'll let you know whats up..
.Back on topic...Very well said ....i wonder if we can get the haten down a few notches to maybe conflict and willingness to resove it....I feel as a humaity we only seem to have a few choices, the bibles way eye for an eye or turn the other cheek which seems to create victims not nessecarily solves anything...I think we need more alternatives.....I wonder if everyone just agreed to make peace the objective and go from there......

You kill them Just kidding.
Well first you go to the kids parents and explain the situation. Hopefully they will punish their kid in whatever means they see fit, with the goal of teaching the kid an important lesson...and the situation can be resolved. Now if the parents don't give a damn, then report it to the police.

I think most genuinely won't peace...its the attainment of peace which is fought over ironically.

Arty Lol bad Arty J/K hmm in my neighbor hood the police don't come unless its serious murder, hostage situation stolen kid...they take your phone number and call you back hours later nad ask ar eyou sure this is serious, no funding contributes to this........Well arty if you can believe this my hubby and i are both adept in karate ( he made me go with him ) the neighborhood kknew this the kids well kids are reckless to say the least , they broke in our house stole some stuff, One of there friends ratted them out for the reward my hubby put up....Hubby attempted to ltalk with the parents got no where...... Police not an option not serious enough, so hubby b**** slapped and few other carefully chosen moves to let these boys know that no stealing is in our neighborhood ever....kid got dad... Dad called police , they did come ( hours later) its assualt now , serious... and the police mediated and talked to hubby and the Dad , a (impasse was reached we don't speak to them they don't speak to us...blah blah ...that was 8 years ago.....We have never been bothered again nor has anyone we know ...many nieghbors came forward and thanked my hubby it had been a problem everyone else was too afraid to do anything these kids were wild and there was a gang of em......we nod at each other now and the father of one of the kids was helpful when one of the children in our are was kidnapped....our street is safe for all the kids and residents so although i didn't agree to my hubbys "way'of handleing it and would not of approved had I of known( he alerted me to it by telling me he was probably going to jail....sheesh....) 'anyhoo it is all good now and the moral of the story is you have to adapt to the situation and talk in a way one understands sometimes for a bigger picture.....

Peace isn't the solution. the solution is how peace is attained, I'm guessing the OP is directing the topic at world peace.

Well when all reasonable options are exhausted, you have to fight back Good for your husband. Its sad the parents didn't give a damn, or the police for that matter. See, sometimes force is affective.

"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed - but they produced Michelangel, Leonardo, da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switerzland, they have brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock."
Taken from The Third Man by Graham Green

May not totally fit into the subject but seems close.

arty , we didn't try any other way so i was not convinced it was the only way, we debated over this for a year, beleive me i agree with the poster "how one achieves peace" Hubby insisted that he just knew he had to handle it that way......

SoI'm not advocating violence as a means to resolve conflict but just putting it out there sometimes you think you have to go to war for peace, but i think it should be a last resort, ultimately not at all... and we should raise awareness in humanity to not have to use violence at all...but we all have to agree to try......at this level humanitys conflict resolution skills are weak at best....We want long term results, parenting without violence is a good fertile ground for change creating humans who know how to solve conflict and understand it......Being reared in peace creates a domino effect....

Another point that I'd like to raise that is often looked over is the question of exactly who our neighbours are. Is it just the people we live next to? Some might say so, but I feel it's more encompassing than that. I believe it includes all people in or society, whether we know them or not. I'd also postulate that it refers to our future neighbours as well (so we should look after the environment so as to not destroy it for our future neighbours the next generation).

btw, Exe11er, I'm all for Respecting your neighbour, but I believe one should also Love their neighbour. Simply having respect amounts to the same thing as being "nice". If you respect them and they don't respect you back, ignore them. Isn't that what most people do anyway?

To be Loving is proactive. To have Respect is not.

Regards, PA

OH yeah I forgot, love your neighbour too, thanks PA. But yeah, I don't think ignoring will solve anything.