TOEFL Essay: Qualities of a Good Neighbor【海外投稿】

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TOEFL Essay: Qualities of a Good Neighbor
    Created by Jeenn Lee Hsieh
    A contribution from Chile
謝振禮老師海外投稿
    

    >Neighbors are the people who live near us. In your opinion, what are the qualities of a good neighbor? Use specific details and examples in your answer.
    It is lucky to have a good neighbor as much as unfortunate to have a bad one. Nowadays, the people who live near us are mostly not friends by choice, nor relatives by birth, but are probably acquaintances by chance. We are blessed by having righteous neighbors who do not act like strangers or become enemies. In our view, a righteous neighbor is often associated with such virtues as tolerance and respect, and help and love.
    Without mutual tolerance and mutual respect, neighbors are not likely to live at peace. A good neighbor exercises self-respect, doing the right thing so as not to annoy people living next door. By so doing, he or she may be responded in kind. A common mistake is invading into the private life of any neighbor, as if people were surrounded by voluntary spies in the neighborhood. Side by side with respect is tolerance of short-comings of neighbors as our own. When sometimes things turn out to be unbearable, for instance, a noisy party, nothing makes us more tolerant than being there. In fact, neighbors are a constant reality to be coped with carefully. They are supposed to be close enough, yet still good fences make good neighbors.
    One advantage among good neighbors is that they can help and love each other, nearer than most relatives and friends at a distance. Indeed, a helping hand from a good neighbor cannot be replaced even by the impersonal hand of government that is often late in coming. The urgent needs among close neighbors must not be neglected. An unselfish act is akin to neighborly love, of course. People of any religious faith are taught to love their neighbors without envy or discrimination--friends or otherwise alike. Mutual help and mutual love should necessarily be key to being good neighbors.
    As a conclusion, righteousness is the sum of all. The mutual feeling toward tolerance and respect, and help and love may contribute to a more enjoyable life in the neighborhood. In the absence of such qualities, a neighbor might become a stranger or even worse, an enemy. There seems to be an irony in modern neighborhood by chance. Righteously, we should be concerned about our next-door neighbors, but do we know our next-door neighbors?