I began this column thinking about Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan from the Bible’s book of Luke. Pretty much everybody knows the gist of this moral story about loving your neighbor.
There is no question that the Samaritan demonstrated kindness toward a person not of his or her own group. The two were strangers, truly “others,” from groups historically hostile toward one another.
One might think of these two individuals as symbolic of left versus right political groups, for instance. The story doesn’t say much about the thieves who attacked the one needing help.
Sociologically, when a culture has a clear outside enemy such as in times of war, their petty squabbling amongst themselves becomes diminished. They have someone or something to band together against.
I want to consider the thieves as well as the one who was helped. Let’s, for a moment forget about the Good Samaritan, the Jewish priest who crossed the street, and the Levite from yet another tribe who also crossed the road to avoid the nearly dead man who needed someone’s help.
Why aren’t we mad at the thieves who created the whole mess of the beaten-up man? We’re a little angry at the Jewish priest and the Levite because they walked away without helping.
I want to know what happened to the one who needed help. Once he/she was helped, their wounds healed, and back to their usual, everyday routine, what kind of person did they become?
Another related Scripture from the book of Luke, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” might be the enlightened philosophy of “the one helped.” I say, enlightened, because we tend to really “get it” when it happens to us.
Many years ago, a man, not necessarily considered a good man by some, or many people, anonymously gave something to our family, that we really needed, when we really needed it. It was anonymous, but we knew who gave the gift.
Not many people knew our need. We didn’t advertise it.
Not only did that act of generosity and kindness meet a concrete need, it instilled a “pay it forward” attitude and a ripple effect in us, “the ones helped.” Now, many years hence, I try to do similar acts of kindness, commensurate with my abilities, to others, as unembellished as possible.
The effects of acts of kindness can last forever, throughout generations. Kindness can be your legacy.
I wonder if people who have never had an unmet need will have the same understanding of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” as “the one helped.” None of this precludes the existence of thieves (John 10) who are here to “kill, steal, and destroy.”
Given the vagaries of human nature, often a kindness extended won’t be returned like for like, in a direct exchange. In fact, that same person who met our need so long ago, turned on us with a nasty exchange later on.
However, nothing can erase the original act of kindness. It’s out there.
Don’t regret a spurned act of kindness. It will return to you some other time by some other person or circumstance. There are simply universal laws of return which will be demonstrated sooner or later. Just wait for it.