On this day we remind ourselves of Community. Cooperate with kin and friends, doing your
fair share, and remember your responsibilities to others. Volunteering is
generally considered an unselfish activity and is intended to promote good or
improve human quality of life. In
return, this activity can produce a feeling of self-worth and respect. Remember to be a good guest as well as a good
host, no matter where you happen to be.
On this day we remind ourselves of the virtue of Hospitality.
Hospitality is much more than a simple
welcome or an offer of food or drink. Hospitality
is an attitude of heart that opens us to others and receives them on their own
terms.
Hospitality is much more than a simple
welcome or an offer of food or drink. Hospitality
is an attitude of heart that opens us to others and receives them on their own
terms.
“Do
not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have
entertained angels without knowing it.” - Anonymous
Hospitality
is the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or
strangers. Cultures and subcultures vary
in the extent to which one is expected to show hospitality to strangers, as
opposed to personal friends or members of one's in-group. Synonyms:
friendliness, welcome, helpfulness, or courtesy.
Hospitality means openness to what guests and strangers
bring to us. We receive a revelation
from the guest which can change us and enrich our lives and open us to new
possibilities and ways of thinking and living.
Hospitality implies attentiveness to the other and to the
needs of others, even anticipating their needs. As Gula explains, “The key to hospitality is
‘paying attention.’ . . . When we pay attention, we divest ourselves of
self-preoccupation. To be hospitable we
have to get out of ourselves and become interested in the other.”
Hospitality is the virtue where you recognize that, in
addition to being an individual, you are also part of a community. In the ancient Norse world, hospitality meant
opening your house to travelers and treating people who came to visit you with
the same kindness and respect as you give your own family. The idea was that humans survive by helping
each other and that, in a way, all humans are part of the same family.
You practice hospitality when you
treat other people like they are your family, with kindness and respect. We no longer live in a world where you can
safely invite strangers into your home. You
can do other things, though, like treating strangers with courtesy. You can also help people in your community by
helping with food drives for the poor and other projects like neighborhood
cleanup and doing house repair for disabled people. Doing chores like shoveling snow for an
elderly neighbor or helping children cross the street safely or helping a
friend get settled in a new house are also forms of hospitality.
Of course hospitality is also making your friends and
relatives welcome when they come to your home, and perhaps offering them
something to eat or drink. The other
side of hospitality is behaving well when you are a guest in someone else's
home. It might mean avoiding a fight
with your cousin or helping the younger children get something to eat at a
family gathering. In general, if you
treat other people the way you would like to be treated, you will be practicing
hospitality.
Often our lack of hospitality is simply the failure to
notice and acknowledge others and their needs - the needs of the larger world
and the needs of those closest to us. Notice
the sick, the excluded, the hungry, and those that others pass by.
Glad Yuletide to Everyone. Hail!
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