There are many ways that NIMBY — not in my back yard — plays itself out in today’s world. In Chicago currently we see this in the reaction to the arrival of the refugees from the southern border. The news reports some variation of this: after the city proposes a site to house the immigrants the people in the area express an awareness of the plight of these people but insist that their neighborhood can not possibly be the place where they can be situated. Not here, they say; find someplace else. Not in my back yard. Contrast that reaction to that of Jesus when he saw others suffering: At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned. Instead of focusing on himself and what we was going through, he saw the pain of others. He had to do something in the face of others’ troubles. His default position was compassion, not self-protection. His awareness was that everything we have — life itself — is an unearned gift. “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” When we start with gratitude, generosity becomes possible.
