We all know the Bible story of the Good Samaritan who stopped and tended to the needs of the hapless traveler he found injured by the side of the road. By the time he got there, other people had gone by who should have helped but decided for one reason or the other that it wasn't their business. Their concept of human kindness did not extend to strangers that would upset the ordered balance of their day.
We ran into such a situation one time, years ago. My husband was on his way to pick up our son from work. A huge pickup truck decided that merging onto the freeway didn't have to take into consideration cars already in the lane he wanted to be. The self-centered, lawless driver of the truck decided that bashing into my husband's much smaller car suited his purposes . . . and he did so. The impact sent my husband's car into the middle of the busy freeway, careened it off the middle divider and spiraled it back to the side of the road. Fortunately, the airbag bore the brunt and my husband escaped with a burned arm and the scare of his life.
Immediately, he got out of the car in case it caught fire and an ambulance that happened by, stopped and put a temporary dressing on his burn before they went on their appointed rounds. They also notified the police to come and take the report. The truck driver? He didn't even stop to see if he'd hurt/killed my husband! It was a very hot day so my husband was surprised when a woman stopped and had him sit in her air conditioned car until the police arrived. The police arrived, assessed the situation, made a report, and called a towing service. The towing service not only towed the car but dropped my husband off at our home which was very much out of their way . . . at no extra charge.
We didn't realize how much of a Good Samaritan story we had about strangers being kind and the people who were supposed to be Christian, ignoring the situation until the following Sunday. We were talking to fellow parishioners after Mass and relating the car accident and showing a picture of our totaled car. One woman said, when I showed her the pictures, "Oh, I know about your husband's accident. My daughter and her family (whom we know) saw him standing in the heat by the side of the freeway on our way home." I was shocked as this woman was the one who would pray the loudest at church, was super modest and always talking Faith to our pastor. Not only does it seem she hadn't taught her daughter the basic precepts of consideration, she, herself, couldn't be bothered to call me during the week to see if my husband was okay.
To this day, it has taught me that Christian behavior isn't how long and loudly you might pray or how often the pastor tells people how wonderful you are. True kindness is found in the trenches of life where it might be inconvenient but necessary to put our a helping hand.
