Martin Luther King, Jr.
Who is my brother?
Jesus answered this question by saying that whoever does the will of God is his brother or sister.
I remember asking our catholic chaplain, sister Rita, to come see a family in the ER who had lost a loved one. I had asked them if they would like a priest and they informed me that they were not catholic but would like to see the chaplain. Before going in I told Rita that they were of another faith and her response was that we are all God's children.
If we're all God's children then we must be brothers and sisters.
In Hawaii they have a tradition that they call everyone "cousin" because at one time all Hawaiians were related due to their isolation in the middle of the Pacific, and now, they realize, that if you go back far enough, we all have common ancestries.
I have lots of brothers and sisters.
I have my siblings and my cousins, my Kof C brothers, and my brothers and sisters of the labor movement.
I have Dr King, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Cezar Chavez, Robert Kennedy, and the many nurses and other health care workers I know and have known, people I look to for inspiration and example of how to live a good life, dedicated to the betterment of others.
This is a Boy's Town statue, from an old Christmas card.
Then of course, there's the song.
I guess the answer to my question is that we are all brothers an sisters, all living together on this planet in space, all interdependent on each other. We may not always agree, but we all must find a way to get along. It starts by trying to understand others, respect others points of views, understand that the welfare of others is tied to the welfare of all.
It's not always easy, but it's worth it for our brothers and sisters.
