The Good Samaritan

Once upon a time, in the good old bible, robbers beset upon a man. In a time-honoured ordeal, which is quite familiar to us Kenyans, he was beaten, robbed and left to die by the roadside. While he was laying there a pastor (they were called Pharisees in those days) also passed by. He prayed for the soul of this fellow and requested that the lord god lay tribulations on them robbers. Feeling his pastoral duties done, he passed on to attend to the rest of the folk of his congregation. An elder of the church also passed by, looked at him, made noises of pity and passed far by just in case the robbers where still lying in wait for the next victim. While that hapless fellow was still lying by the roadside a Samaritan (I guess in the Kenya of today we’d call him a parking boy) saw him lying there and decided to help him. He gave him first aid, took him to the nearest clinic and even paid for the fellow’s treatment since the clinical attendant looked like throwing the guy out if he didn’t have a penny. He then continued on his journey knowing that his fellow man was, if not in good shape, in good hands.

Ever since this story was spewed forth from the pulpits and used as an example of human kindness, Samaritan and Kindness have been made almost synonymous. In fact quite a number of people seem to think that being a Samaritan is equivalent with being good. Most of us have quite forgotten what the real message in the story was.

First of all a Samaritan, to the Jewish way of thinking, was an evil person. These were a tribe that had fallen out of grace with the lord god and were generally accused of all the evils we lay on parking boys or matatu touts of these days. They were considered evil and untouchable. To the Jew the Samaritan should have relieved the fellow of even the little that the robbers had left on him. It would have been just about as surprising as a parking boy taking you to a restaurant and paying for your meal because you appeared to be starving. In it’s own way that was a great leap of faith to expect help from those quarters.

So what was the real moral of the story?

The Samaritan stands for that person whom in our deepest thoughts we misjudge as incapable of doing a good act. That bitch who stole your man while pretending to be your best friend, the fellow who backstabbed you to the boss while singing your praises to your face, that bouncer who decided you don’t have the wherewithal to enter the hot new club, that police person who extorted 2k from you for a really spurious reason when your pockets were kin to the infamous church mouse. We’ve all met these guys. They do not seem to have an iota of human kindness in them. They are to be shunned, excluded and even removed from polite society. They are not people who you’ll want to introduce as friends or even passing acquaintances.

Yet surprising enough these are people with families, friends, feelings and even sometimes ooze the milk of human kindness. They grieve, commiserate, and celebrate just like the rest of us. They, too, have their human failing and foibles. Before we rush to judge we should be sympathetic, even when we are at the receiving end, and try to find that spark of humanness in them. The little we do may eventually lead to these guys becoming more human and making our lives richer for having known them.