neighborliness is next to godliness

i finished a steroid treatment for poison ivy on the day we arrived in Amman. about two days later, i noticed i still had poison ivy on my leg (it never goes away, a constant annoying personal struggle, which has me dedicated to never going into the woods again). we contacted a doctor friend to find out what we should get from the pharmacy here and then started a journey to find a pharmacy. we walked down the staircase (jabal ashrafiyya (our neighborhood) is a large hill on the east side of Amman with many staircases built between buildings for easier travel on foot) to the street below ours and stopped in the liquor store to ask for help...hoping for help in english. after i botched asking if he spoke english in arabic (i used the female form of the question) he said yes. so i asked if he could tell me how to get to a pharmacy. it was at this point that i realized that he did not actually really speak english, at least enough to help us with this question. but, instead of saying, "sorry, i can't help you because i don't speak english well enough" (which would have been awkward because saying this would mean he really did speak good english), he called someone on his cell phone, explained in arabic to the person on the other end that we needed help, and then handed me the phone. i said hello, and the person spoke fluent english, and gave me directions to a pharmacy. my new friend, the liquor store guy, thought the directions sounded too long so he grabbed the phone again, explained something again in arabic to the girl on the phone, then handed it back. she then told me directions to an even closer pharmacy. i thanked the stranger on the phone (thanks) and liquor store guy (shukran) and then we went on our way. turns out, the directions were perfect and the pharmacy is really close to our apartment...and the cream i needed was only 1.40 JDs ($2 US). i stopped back in to thank liquor store guy again and was impressed at his willingness to help us out. like he had our back. what i've learned from this and several other experiences like this is that, for the sake of maintaining honor, my neighbors will do whatever it takes to help out so they don't bring shame on themselves. oh that we could all learn a lesson in "loving our neighbors as we love ourselves" from this.