Into the Wardrobe

I was going to ask if the little discussion about my new sig could be split off into a thread of its own because I felt it was a little off-topic, but on second thought I think it became very on-topic indeed. :)

Sehoy, I guess you and I will have to agree to disagree. But if you haven't done so already, I suggest you (and everyone else) read's in full, and get the quote in context rather than my clumsy attempt at explaining it. Like I've said, I can't guarantee what anyone else will feel but I found it very uplifting.

In order to tie this back to the starting question, it all reminds me of what I find perhaps the most striking illustration of love in the Bible, the story that Jesus uses in Luke to illustrate the meaning of "love thy neighbour as thyself" and, more particularly who is your neighbour.

The story is very familiar to us now although what I feel is its major point often gets lost. A man is robbed and left to die, and the first one to take pity on him is not only a stranger, but a stranger from a hostile neighbouring country, his enemy both politically and religiously. (Actually, if I remember correctly Samaria is in present-day Palestine, so it would not be too much of a stretch to call it the parable of the Good Palestinian. :)) Everyone is our neighbour - including, and perhaps particularly, those we tend to think of as Others and enemies.

(To harp on Mr. Amr's piece for perhaps the final time, I read the end of it as an encouragement to all of us to be the good Samaritan - the good Infidel, the good Enemy, the good rich man, or whichever fits - when we are in the position to.)