"HELOÍSA, your house has been invaded! I'll call the police," said my next-door neighbor on the phone.

I was alone, doing chores in a room at the back, years ago, when I lived in Miami. She was calling to tell me that there was a party on my front lawn and five cars parked on my flower beds. She insisted I had the right to expel them because this was my private property.

"They are drunk, probably drugged. They are awful. It looks like their 'boss' has a gun. And they're speaking Spanish!" she exploded.

"Please, Joey, don't do anything. Give me time to think," I answered her.

A peep through the dining-room drapes confirmed her description. But instead of calling the police and expelling the group by force, I decided that talking with them was appropriate.

I went straight to the "boss" and spoke to him in Spanish. Something about him drew my respect right away. I told him there was a public park a couple of miles away, with better facilities for his party. Smiling from ear to ear, he apologized, saying, "Perdon, senora, no la quise molestar." ("Sorry, Ma'am, I did not mean to disturb you.") With a whistle, he ordered the group to leave. In five minutes they cleaned up the area and were gone, to the astonishment of my neighbor, watching from her doorstep.

It wasn't bravery on my part, just awareness that there was an inner, respectable individuality in that "boss." And that's the person with whom I talked—not a drunk, dangerous "Spanish-speaking person." No matter what may be someone's appearance or background, his or her spiritual individuality as a child of God deserves to be respected. And when the individual receives respectful treatment, his or her dignity comes to the surface.

This inner, true nature of each one of us is always good. Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, asked the Pharisees, who refused to accept his teachings, to acknowledge that this true nature was already everywhere, in everyone. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation," Jesus said; "neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20,21).

God knows only the true character He created. Trouble and disruption were not created or authorized by God. That is why peace and integrity can be restored when the "Kingdom of God within"—which in today's terminology could be described as the true, spiritually governed self of each individual—is recognized in everybody we meet.

The hesitation one might feel in recognizing the spiritual self of someone from a different background does not make him or her less worthy of respect. No ethnicity could separate the inner self of the "boss" in my garden from God, that man's true Father-Mother. His different appearance, culture, and language had aggravated my neighbor's fears. And because she didn't understand what the group was saying, she felt even more threatened about being robbed of her own identity and rights. But these things did not make him more dangerous or more drunk.

Mary Baker Eddy identified the goodness inherent in everybody. One evening, a competent attorney who was helping her as a professional presented himself at her home, totally drunk, "and was shooed away from the door by a horrified member of the household. Mrs. Eddy happened to look out the window, saw his weaving retreat, and immediately sent after him, had him brought back, cared for lovingly, put to bed, and sent off the next morning clear-headed . . ." (Robert Peel, Years of Authority, p. 430). She wasn't offended by his condition. She honored the true identity of that man, which she discerned in spite of his drunkenness. And she demanded that he be treated with respect. He responded. When he left, his dignity had been restored.

The innate dignity of each man and women can be spiritually discerned. There is something to respect in everyone we meet. And respect brings out what is real in each one of us—what is worthy, upright, capable of doing what is right.

Heloísa Rivas
Associate Editor