A modern-day good Samaritan
“Encounter with a stranger in need” was an encounter with a stranger indeed or was it in deed?
(“Local Voices” by John Brocato; Commercial Dispatch, July 23, 2014).
The story of the “Good Samaritan” in the Bible (Matthew 10:29), John, is the very same story.
For in that story, a man “fell into the hands of brigands.” And “religious” men i.e. a priest and a Levite, passed him by but a “Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion when he saw him.” He too “carried him to an inn,” took out “two denarii and handed them to the innkeeper” for his care. This Samaritan man was not considered “religious” either, John, by the Jews but he was the one who performed an “encounter with a stranger in need.”
So too you, though “not religious,” “was moved with compassion” like the Samaritan traveler; you too took the (Spanish) stranger to a motel and handed money to the manager for his care.
Ever since, that original Good Samaritan has become known as the gold standard of spontaneous care giving. Your “encounter with a stranger in need” has likewise earned for you that same title, “Good Samaritan!”
Paul Ackerman
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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