‘All will concede that in order to have good neighbours, we must also be good neighbours.That applies in every field of human endeavour.’– 33rd US President Harry S. Truman
This week, I introduced my young grandson to an eight-year-old boy who lived in the house opposite mine.
Not so long ago, that young neighbour passed me a pistol he made with sheets of paper from his exercise book. The pistol was lovingly glued together with surprising attention to details.
“Grandma, grandma, grandma,” he approached me as I was closing my gate after parking my car inside my compound.
“This pistol is for your grandson. Please pass it to him if he visits you again.”
I was surprised and touched at his kind act.
“When did he see my grandson?” I asked myself as I accepted the pistol and examined it closely.
I guess my grandson makes so much noise that many neighbours knows he’s visiting me. He will shout loudly “Grandma, grandma, grandmas” as soon as he gets out of his father’s car and asks me to tie up up Bailey, the younger of my two dogs, before he comes into the house. Bailey, you see, is a very naughty dog and loves to jump on people.
Now, back to my story about my young neighbour. Of course, I promised him I would pass the pistol to my grandson.
A few days later, the young boy approached me as I was pruning the tomato plants in a box outside my front gate. This time, he gave me a packet of crackers.
“Thank you, boy. You keep it for yourself,” I told him.
“This is for your grandson. Please give it to him when he comes again,” he said before asking me, “Did you give him my pistol?”
“Oh dear, I forgot when he came yesterday,” I told the young boy. “Anyway, I will make sure I pass all your gifts to him the next time I see him”
The young boy speaks Mandarin to me. Sometimes I don’t understand what he says and asks him to explain himself again.
The minute I went back into the house, I took a picture of the pistol and the packet of crackers and sent it to my son and his wife. I told them about the boy and his gifts for their son.
My daughter-in-law promptly replied to my WhatsApp message.
Since the following day was the Mid Autumn Festival, she told me not to cook dinner.
“We will bring over soup, soup, chicken, vegetables and rice for you tomorrow,” she wrote.
She said she would be bringing over her son to collect his gifts too.
“Ok. If the boy is in, I will introduce them to each other,” I told her.
That was how the two young boys met each other for the first time.
I am glad my son and daughter-in-law are sporting and they allowed me to introduce two young boys to each other the next day.
My daughter-in-law bought a packet of snacks for the young neighbour. I walked my grandson to his house and formally introduced them to each other.
After that, the two boys chased each other with a plastic rifle on the lane outside the house. The rifles belonged to the boy. My son and daughter-in-law kept a close watch on them as they played.
All too soon, it was time for my grandson and his parents to go back to the house of my daughter-in- law’s
parents for their Mid Autumn Festival dinner.
My young neighbour asked my grandson to come back another time so that they could play together for a longer period of time.
My grandson was very reluctant to leave his new friend behind. In the end, my daughter-in-law had to carry him into the car.
It’s amazing how kids make friends so easily. If only we, adults, are like them.
My young neighbour’s parents are slightly older than my son. Since I am friends with his parents, I am glad the young boy has befriended my grandson.
Although I don’t know all the neighbours who live in houses along my lane, I’m g;ad that at least I’m talking to a few of them.
Do you know that according to a FMT report recently,
nearly a million people out of 14.8 million surveyed by the government had never spoken to their neighbours?
However, 93.5 per ccnt of those surveyed remained friendly and communicated with their neighbours.
According to a sociologist who interpreted the census’ outcome, a general lack of interest in talking to neighbours was mostly due to long hours at work.
He added that the concept of neighbourliness appeared to be losing interest in large cities.
Another academic pointed out that the disconnect between neighbours might be more apparent in apartment and condominium buildings in large cities.
She said kampung folk had more time to interact with neighbours whom they bumped into at eateries, mosques or during “gotong royong” (mutual assist) programmes.
Now, what about you, my friends? Do you talk to your neighbours?
