Most everybody knows the story of the Good Samaritan: a man who goes out of his way to help a fellow traveler in need when the people who SHOULD have helped, refused.
I once wondered what kind of people wouldn't help.
Then the pandemic struck
... & I don't wonder anymore.
A traveler is robbed, beaten, & left for dead by bandits on the side of the road.
He's passed by a Priest, then a Levite - both of whom SHOULD have helped the man - before a Samaritan, a despised foreigner, picks him up, puts him on his horse, & pays for his care.
The thing is... the Priest & Levite HAD reasons, within their own worldview, to not help. They both were bound to keep themselves ritually clean & COULD have justified their actions by arguing that they didn't want to defile that purity.
...
Are you convinced?
Today, the most vulnerable among us have few options to fight COVID.
They don't have enough vax or PPE.
They don't have the luxury of working remotely or avoiding crowds.
What they DO have, are US in wealthier nations who COULD help to stop the spread.
...& many of us refuse.
Just a jab.
Just a mask.
Just forgoing, temporarily, what we WANT.
Just some compassion & humanity for those suffering BECAUSE we are in a privileged position to help.
...
And so many of us just won't do it.
There are reasons, in their worldview, as to why these people can't/won't do any of those things to help those in need, & people can choose to do as much as they can.
... but in the future, will their reasons and justifications sound any better than those of the Priest or Levit?
I no longer wonder why people wouldn't help someone in need, b/c I now read about it every day.
I see it not just in parables & strangers, but in friends & family.
I hear all the excuses
... & each time it kills a little of the hope inside.
... another victim of the pandemic.
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