The Good Samaritan

They are from all different walks of life, religions, backgrounds and situations. Tomorrow by chance you may save the life of a perfect stranger. 

Irrespective of who or what you believe or have done in your life I do hope you have experienced a Good Samaritan or been one. Many people will have different names for the unknown person who has come to their rescue, given them a meal, perhaps helped them get back on the road, assisted someone in danger or lost, or ultimately saved a life. These are not to be confused with those whose job it is to help you in an emergency, e.g. doctors, firemen, police officers, and military personnel who have assisted you or even saved your life. These are people doing their job role are often rightly get called heroes.

I recall my father as the local church minister often being called out to negotiate with “a suicide jumper” off the Victoria’s Falls bridge in Zambia. Some he saved, but not all, he was my hero but he would say he was just doing his job.

The doctor who attended to me for 14 weeks reversed the decisions of others to ensure, after a bad car accident I would live. I was able to walk properly and not need a chin rest for the rest of my life. He changed all the rules and I walked out of the hospital. The medical staff said it was a miracle, my dad thought it was God’s doing. The doctor was doing his job. The doctor however would not let us pay his bill, likely we didn’t have the money. He was doing his job but not charge my  parents, for me , made  him a Good Samaritan.

Sometimes these acts of helping others are spontaneous, helping or saving a perfect stranger to you, in some cases at a personal risk. The Good Samaritan who died trying or saving someone else is not uncommon. So I’ve had a few real Samaritans in my life but believe I’ve helped many along the road also.

One experience for me was in Morocco, I went on a one-month assignment but knew nobody in the country. A friend introduced me to his friend from Morroco. This was all done by phone as the Moroccan was in Paris. The man, who was a senior advisor to the King of Morocco was also a Jew. Wherever I went whoever I met was extremely helpful to me because of my link. He kept me from harm and gave me lots of advice. We did a few Zoom calls but he never put the camera on. On my return to Colombo, I tried to contact him but all links failed. Turned out that all through the short time I knew him he was in the last days of his life. I didn’t know, we had never met.

The other experience was two hours out of Athens when the car we were in just gave up. The driver could not restart it and we are in the middle of nowhere with no phone connection. We are likely to miss our ferry from Volos to Skopelos. After a frantic hour, a chap pulls up, we jump in the car with our luggage and head east to the port. The driver was not going our way but spent 90 minutes driving us to the port and the ferry. We wanted to pay him but he would not let us. If perhaps you have never witnessed this phenomenon, you may know someone who has or read about some examples of Good Samaritans.

They are from all different walks of life, religions, backgrounds and situations. Tomorrow by chance you may save the life of a perfect stranger.

Footnote: The first recorded Good Samaritan was in the Bible. In 1994 The Good Samitarisns became an international organization to help people in need.