SOMETIMES, I am obliged to ring my young and pleasant neighbours about their Saturday night noise levels.

In the early hours of last Sunday (October 28) I mistakenly pressed the wrong digits and was horrified to have woken up someone else.

Minutes later, the man rang back asking if I was in trouble and if he could help at all.

How many of us, me included, could be so decent when disturbed by a fumbling stranger?

The man sounded Asian and as a Muslim may not be flattered to learn that this was one of the best examples of Christianity I have ever been shown.

Such demonstrations of concern and compassion for a fellow human transcend barriers of race, sex, age and religious divides and remind us what life is about -- working together as members of a global team, not fighting for some half-remembered political religious principles.

May God bless this kind person who gladdened my heart.

(Name and address received).