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Senator Byrd

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July 28, 2005

We All Need Good Neighbors, and We All Need to Be Good Neighbors

Senator Byrd delivered the following remarks about good neighbors, beginning with the poem, "My Neighbor's Roses."

The roses red upon my neighbor's vine
Are owned by him, but they are also mine.
His was the cost, and his the labor, too,
But mine as well as his the joy, their loveliness to view.

They bloom for me and are for me as fair
As for the man who gives them all his care.
Thus I am rich because a good man grew
A rose-clad vine for all his neighbors' view.

I know from this that others plant for me,
That what they own my joy may also be;
So why be selfish when so much that's fine
Is grown for me upon my neighbor's vine?

-- A. L. Gruber

The appreciation of a good neighbor is among the oldest, most cherished, and enduring of human values. It is a value that transcends both time and space.

This value was vividly and eloquently expressed more than two thousand years ago in the Bible which commands us in eight different passages to love our neighbors. (Leviticus 19:18 , Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8). In fact, this is one of the most repeated commands in the Scripture. In other passages, the Bible tells us how to treat our neighbors (Proverbs 25:17 and Romans 15:2) and in others warns us against mistreating our neighbors. (Deuteronomy 19:14, Exodus 20:16, Proverbs 3:29)

The appreciation of a good neighbor is also a value that knows no cultural or geographical boundaries. An old Chinese proverb, for example, maintains that "a good neighbor is a found treasure."

In the United States, towns and states celebrate Good Neighbor Days. Across the country, municipalities, corporations, radio stations, and newspapers present Good Neighbor Awards. Stores and businesses proclaim "Good Neighbor Days" to promote sales. Since the early 1970s, the federal government has celebrated an annual Good Neighbor Day. This year Good Neighbor Day will be observed on September 25.

The web site for the national Good Neighbor Day points out that "being good neighbors is an important part of the social fabric that makes ours a great country." Indeed it is. Good neighbors are always there when you need them, offering a helping hand, providing comfort.

Seldom have I observed a stronger sense of neighborliness than among the coal miners in the West Virginia communities where I spent my boyhood years. Fred Mooney, a leading figure in organizing the West Virginia coal miners in the early Twentieth Century, in his autobiography, Struggle in the Coal Fields, recalled how his coal-mining neighbors, although themselves quite poor, sacrificed to help him and his family with food and clothes after he had been fired from his job and blacklisted for his union activities. Mooney explained, "This is the spirit of fellowship, love, and devotion that permeates the life of a union coal miner. He will give until it hurts and then divide the rest."

That is loving thy neighbor: "giv[ing] until it hurts" and expecting nothing in return.

I have observed this sense of neighborliness following mine explosions, floods, and other disasters that have befallen on my state over the years. I will never forget how the people of Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, came together following a disastrous flood in that community. How they worked together and shared together while caring for and comforting each other, thus enabling themselves and their neighbors to survive that horrible tragedy.

Being a good neighbor most often involves small, simple acts of kindness. The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O’Neill, liked to point out that "all politics is local." Being a good neighbor is also local. It begins right over the backyard fence. It involves small, simple acts of kindness, as well as dramatic gestures during catastrophic events.

A good neighbor is the friendly face who shows up with a cake or a pie at the house of a family who has a member who is ill. A good neighbor is a person who mows the lawn of the widow down the street. He may be the handyman who is quick to pull out his tool belt when a neighbor has a busted pipe, or a mechanic who starts his neighbor’s car on a cold winter morning so he can get to work. He is a neighbor who will cheerfully shovel your sidewalk when it snows, or rake leaves, just to make life easier for you.

Such simple acts of kindness are part of the social fabric that makes for a better community, a better country, and a better world.

I am pleased to say, I have such good neighbors. Mr. Jim Nobles is a neighbor who is always seeking ways to help my wife, Erma, and me. When we are busy or tired, he somehow appears at our door with a basket of food. He provides us with transportation when we need it. On cold, winter days to my surprise and delight, when I arise, I often find that my neighbor has already shoveled the snow off my sidewalk. And, when he is able, he makes sure that my newspaper is on my porch in the morning. I am also fortunate to have as a neighbor Ms. Mary Lucas who carefully places my newspaper on my porch when Mr. Nobles is unable to do so.

I must confess that, at times, I feel a little guilty, because I am not a better neighbor. My work in the Senate, my family life, and other responsibilities prevent me from performing the kind, neighborly acts that Mr. Nobles and Ms. Lucas have performed for me over the years. But they, in the truest neighborly ways, never express any complaint. They never want or expect anything in return. They just want to be good neighbors, and they are. They are, indeed, treasures!

I just wanted to take a few minutes of the Senate’s time to say how fortunate I am to have these good neighbors, and to encourage all of us to think about being better neighbors! It is the human touch that makes a better community, a better country, and a better world.

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