In a Pandemic World, Who is my Neighbor?

Do you know your neighbors?

I mean do you REALLY know your neighbors. Do you remember their names? How about what they do for a living? Their kids’ names, where they went on vacation last summer, their favorite restaurant?

In the past weeks, we have seen some previously unimaginable responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are calling for mandatory tracking of those who test positive for infection, including ankle bracelets and enforced quarantines of individuals or whole states. The New York Times has even published anonymized cell phone data tracking how much people in certain areas travel. The message from our President and Governors is to physically isolate ourselves from those around us, and we have shut down the global economy to fight the steepening pandemic curve. All of this points to an encroaching fear of the “invisible enemy” that is changing how we interact with those around us.

Although the enemy is invisible, many of us are quick to condemn our neighbors when they bring the virus into our communities. It is easy to associate the threat of the “invisible enemy” with those anonymous faces that have brought the threat to our doors. Like the lepers of the gospel, we dehumanize and fear those around us, quick to take away their liberties and dignity in the name of “public safety”.

Unfortunately, this is because many of us have never taken the time to really know our neighbors. In this modern age of social media, video conferencing, and digital isolation, our physical communities are suffering from a lack of authentic personal connectedness. It is easier to know about our favorite celebrities and news reporters than it is to form a relationship with the person or persons across the hall. And as a result, many of us are suffering from isolation and mental health issues, and the life of the Domestic Church has stagnated

Christ’s call to his Apostles at the Last Supper was “To Love one another as I have Loved you.” Is there a person that Jesus Christ does not want to know more intimately, to form a lasting, meaningful relationship with? If our Lord has called us to Love one another as He does us, this necessitates us truly knowing our neighbors. And if we truly know our neighbors, maybe it will become easier to separate them from our true enemy during this pandemic, and to work together to slow the spread.