Neighbor Tuesday: Voting like a neighbor

What the Good Samaritan story can teach us about how to vote

Good Neighbor Tuesday morning, everyone! With 2 weeks away from election day, many of us are gearing up to vote or have already voted. Well done, you early-voter-people! I’ve already written a post on voting like a global neighbor and I also wanted to write one that’s closer to home.

Having come from the evangelical space, I know that many people vote largely on one issue (namely, abortion). But, I want to challenge that a bit and ask people to consider voting like a neighbor - a global neighbor and a local neighbor - which goes way beyond one issue. In order to do that, you have to know the issues that affect our local and global neighbors in compounding ways. I’m talking about other issues like fair wages, taxes, affordable housing, affordable college and student loans, migration, food insecurity, etc. For lots of us, these issues can be fairly removed, especially if you live in the US and make a decent wage with a warm house and enoughish food to feed your family.

I think that’s where the story of the Good Samaritan comes in. Remember in the story that a man was hurt on the side of the road and two religious leaders of the day just walked by. But a Samaritan man stopped, tended to the man’s medical needs, took him to a place to recover, and paid for all of it. If you’ve read my book, you know that part of the story gets me every time. Being a Good Samaritan in today’s world means we act the same way - with extravagant and costly and time-consuming acts of mercy. Did you see that in the story? The man not only helped his physical needs but also his other needs, making sure he had a dignified and warm place to recover and also ensuring it didn’t bankrupt him.

I just love that story and what it teaches, especially in an election year.

As many of us go to the polls, I would encourage you to consider this story when you vote.

• Does who you vote for reflect the Good Samaritan story?

• Do the policies put in place if your candidate wins reflect the story too?

• Do the policies support stopping to the issues that are on the sides of the road? Or do they walk by like the religious leaders in the story?

• Does your candidate exemplify someone who honors the worth and dignity of all people, especially those that are on the sides of the road of poverty, discrimination, or oppression (historical or current day)?

• Would your candidate tend to the man in the story who was hurt and then pay for his recovery?

• Would your candidate’s policies do the same?

I don’t think it’s too short-sighted to think about these issues when we vote. I can almost hear people yelling at this post (and will likely email me about it) that I’m not bringing up enough of the other issues when I only focus on the “social” ones. I would counter that though that everything is a social issue if you live like a Good Samaritan - or at least want to. Sure, these are complex issues with intersectional problems. But, I would say that the solutions are not complex in light of neighboring.

So, here’s to voting like a neighbor! Both a global and a local one.

I, for one, can’t wait to vote this year. We’re taking the kids, I’m putting on great music because I want to show them that voting is an incredible privilege and a joy and a practice in both joy and solidarity with others, and then we are getting ice cream after to celebrate. Here’s to voting like a neighbor in 2024 with so much on the ballot, on the table, and on the side of the road to not walk by.

-Emily

PS: My book goes into detail about many of these issues if you’re interested in more ideas on living a life of a Good Samaritan in a world set up to do quite the opposite.