Am I My Neighbor’s Keeper

Scenario 1

Every other day, shouts ring out from the neighbor’s house.  Clearly this is a bitter family squabble.  Screams of abuse could be heard deep into the night.  Occasionally, there was also sound of broken glasses or furniture being thrown.

You tell yourself, “This is a family squabble, I should not be involved.”

Then one day, you come back from work.  As you approach the house, the road heading to your house is jammed with cars.   As you approach, heavy smoke could be seen bellowing from several houses including yours.   You panic, you run to your house – leaving your car at the side of the road.  Your mind filled with all kinds of questions. 

What had happened, was the wife had set fire on the husband because she could no longer tolerate the abuse.  The fire was so intense that it spread to your house as well.

Scenario 2

Your neighbor brings home different girls to the house once or twice a month.  This was done during the quietly when his wife is not around. 

You let the wife know and then they get separated.  The neighbor finds out that you are the one who caused the separation.  He blames you and starts harassing you.

In the first scenario, you  just wanted to mind your own business and in the second scenario, you are being a busy body.

So the question raised it should you interfere with your neighbor’s business?

Let’s take another scenario.  Every year, Indonesia has a lot of hot spot (fire).  This results in smog polluting the air of the neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore.   Malaysia being a good neighbor (as well as self interest) sends people (and incurs the cost) to help put out these fires.  

Now the question is since this is done every year; should Indonesia not do anything and expect Malaysia to always provide the aid? 

It also puts Malaysia in a jam, if she doesn’t help, the air pollution in the country will suffer and the health of the people will also suffer.  If they help, it will be a drain on her resources.