The problem with "my neighbor"

See, the problem with using language like “my neighbor” is the
unintentional (or sometimes more intentional) demarcation that occurs
among people. While the distinction might at first strike some as odd, I
think it’s worth taking a closer look at the inadvertent effects of
talking about who is and who is not “my neighbor.”

Jesus made it quite clear in the Gospels that those we might not
readily admit to being our neighbors, those for whom a duty to care,
protect and love is inherently present by virtue of a relationship we
may not realize or chose to recognize, are in fact our neighbors and we
have a certain responsibility to view them in a renewed way. He
illustrated this most famously in the parable of the good Samaritan, a
narrative that turns the status quo and popular worldview upside down in an effort to illustrate what the Kingdom of God is truly like.

This is something that was not lost on Francis of Assisi. The more
time I spend with his writings, the more I consider the early sources
and the later development of his nascent Gospel movement in light of
theological reflection, the more I realize that Francis never made it to
the who is and who is not my neighbor question. For him, as for Christ,
the question is fundamentally absurd.