Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Diane Ellis, Ed. ·
Mar 7, 2011 at 4:01pm
Come to think of it, they've always been rare. The original good Samaritan of the Bible, you'll recall, was the third person to come across a badly beaten and dying man on the side of the road, but the only one who took the trouble to stop and help. I've always loved this parable; the inexplicable compassion and generosity of the Samaritan are incredibly moving.
So when the Blue Yeti e-mailed me the story of "The Tire Iron and the Tamale" with a note that read simply, "You'll like this," he couldn't have been more right. If you're in need of an uplifting story that will restore your faith in human goodness, click here.
Eugene Delacroix
"The Good Samaritan" (1849)
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Call Me skeptical, but I smell an agenda.
If anything He really embellished the story.
Jun '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
I think in the cases described, it's called "good catechesis," and yes, it's increasingly rare.
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Ah, I really needed that. Thanks, Diane and Blue Yeti! And, perhaps I'm a sucker, but I don't believe it's embellished one iota.
Edited on Mar 7, 2011 at 4:38pmRe: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Jimmy Carter: Call Me skeptical, but I smell an agenda.
If anything He really embellished the story. · Mar 7 at 4:12pm
Oh there almost certainly is an agenda behind the story. I imagine the author wanted to portray Mexicans in a sympathetic light. I didn't see much more to the agenda than that -- the folks are seasonal workers who come willingly come up for the harvest, and go home when the work's finished. So while you could read a lot into it and assume that the author was very pro-amnesty, or something, I just didn't see it.
In any case, I think it's wonderful to celebrate compassion and generosity whenever we see them because they're in such short supply.
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
I was in Moscow in the winter a few years ago doing research. I'd bought a metro token with the only change I had on me, slipped it into the slot to get through the turnstile, and realized that the machine had eaten my token without acknowledging that I had paid. The gate started beeping and a computerized voice yelled at me in Russian to step away from the turnstile. I was confused and flustered, and started to panic when a few stern looking security guards started rushing at me, batons in hand.
"I paid! I paid!" I cried out, unable to find the words to express any further details. They were unconvinced, and tried to shove me out of the way.
All of a sudden, a stranger who must have seen the whole thing, rushed up, put a token in the slot for me, said something in a muted tone to one of the guards, then patted me on the shoulder and walked away. The guards let me through, and I burst out in sobs.
That kind of thing just doesn't happen in a place like Moscow. If you've been there, you know that strangers don't "practice random acts of kindness."
My good Samaritan's gesture was such a small thing, but it meant a whole lot to me. And so, political agendas aside...I'm just such a sucker for stories like these.
Edited on Mar 7, 2011 at 7:15pmOct '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
This is why I hate our modern politics. There are very serious, life-threatening reasons why border security is important--and unlike most people here, all of my friends personally in danger are in Mexico.
Why can't we deal with the border? Does anyone honestly believe that the free flow of drugs doesn't hurt Mexico, even more then it hurts us? Have you read what's happening in their northern cities lately?
The nativists are powerful because they're right. Why does the left validate bigotry? It does so (very painfully) for gays, for blacks, to a mild extent woman--why can't it stop? Must people accept cultural punishment, shrouded in false platitudes?
May '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
I feel like a humbug for saying this, but the beauty of that sentiment can't convince me to click on a NYT link.
I like to think the NYT is the ass in that picture, and the woman is being saved from it.
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Aaron Miller: I feel like a humbug for saying this, but the beauty of that sentiment can't convince me to click on a NYT link.
I like to think the NYT is the ass in that picture, and the woman is being saved from it. · Mar 7 at 5:08pm
Then how do you know it's a NYT link? ;-)
Oct '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Jimmy Carter: Call Me skeptical, but I smell an agenda.
If anything He really embellished the story. · Mar 7 at 4:12pm
What's with emphasis-by-capitalization? To be blunt, immigration isn't a partisan issue--I once saw a radically socially conservative think tank ardently defending it--and to be honest, I dislike the nativist impulse to feel threatened by all immigrants (did the article imply they were illegals?).
Though, again, the left does a fairly good job of validating these things. It's infuriating.
Dec '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Great story and totally believable. Doesn't change what we need to do at the borders. Also, I think the story was written with no agenda in mind and then possibly used as an agenda piece. No matter, it's almost as good a parable as the original.
Jun '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Diane Ellis, Ed.: I'm just such a sucker for stories like these. · Mar 7 at 4:49pm
Edited on Mar 07 at 04:52 pm
And I'm an artist for stories like these. I've been looking for inspiration. Thanks for the post. You will not be disappointed.
May '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Once my car's engine just stopped in the middle of US 101 during rush hour. Traffic was zooming past me at 75 mph on both sides, as my car slowed down below 30 mph. I started to panic--I obviously couldn't get over to the shoulder through the speeding cars and I was imminently coming to a full stop in a place where I wouldn't be able to exit the vehicle. I was sure I would be rear-ended at high speed.
Then in my right mirror I saw a trucker flash his headlights at me. As he pulled up next to me I could look up at him in the cab, and I saw him wave me over. He had seen my predicament from some distance back, and he had blocked out both lanes to my right, allowing me to roll in neutral over to the shoulder.
Must have been Dave Carter.
Jul '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Joseph Eagar
Jimmy Carter: Call Me skeptical, but I smell an agenda.
If anything He really embellished the story. · Mar 7 at 4:12pm
What's with emphasis-by-capitalization? To be blunt, immigration isn't a partisan issue--I once saw a radically socially conservative think tank ardently defending it--and to be honest, I dislike the nativist impulse to feel threatened by all immigrants (did the article imply they were illegals?).
Though, again, the left does a fairly good job of validating these things. It's infuriating. · Mar 7 at 5:18pm
I have no idea to what You are responding in My comment. First, try casting that beam from Yer eye and reread My comment.
Dec '10
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Diane, as you note, these folks were migrant farm workers. The off note in the story for me was the writer's description of them as "immigrants." It seemed to me that the family were happily and proudly Mexican citizens and were here only for the fruit picking season. Migrant workers and immigrants are two different, if overlapping, sets of people. I rarely stop to help drivers at the side of the road, but I routinely call 9-1-1 to report their breakdowns and summon help. It's safer that way all around.
Mar '11
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Well now... what's this? Someone saying something positive about Mexicans? Even to contrast such things unfavorably with the gringos? Will wonders never cease. Maybe things are getting better. Maybe I won't die right away because this is starting to get good.
Since I live in Mexico, I could give you over mil ocho mil stories like the ones you linked to. They happen every day to everybody down here. But, since you asked, I do have a story that took place only last Friday afternoon...
The World Rally Association was holding an event at a town near where I live so I decided to check it out. It's a way to get out and see some country...
I was almost where I wanted to get to (a point off the dirt road, maybe ten miles ATCF from the nearest paved highway). Going up the hill, I stopped to get my bearings since roads are not usually marked around here and there are hundreds of them (few of which are on any map). I put my car in gear to proceed and one of the gears dropped out of my gearbox. Something like that.
Edited on Mar 7, 2011 at 7:55pmRe: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Always thought it amusing that the term "Good Samaritan" implies that he stood out because he wasn't as rotted as his fellow Samaritans. Here's a story about a Samaritan, but get this, he's a good one.
Mar '11
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
[Expletive deleted] I'm at least five miles down a dirt road from the nearest highway, at least another five miles from the trailhead where I wanted to see the rally action. No cell phone reception. I got my car off the road as best I could, which wasn't much. There's no place to even turn around on these roads. I decided to hitchhike up the road to the rally because I thought that there was bound to be some authority figure around there who could get me a tow truck on his radio.
I started walking. I was in a pretty foul mood at first, feeling sorry for myself and debating whether I should just push my car off the cliff or have it towed to the nearest junk yard, etc etc. That didn't last long, though. The sun was shining (spring came here about a month ago), the hills were shining, the brush and cactus were shining. I was forced to shine myself after a while.
Edited on Mar 7, 2011 at 7:22pmMar '11
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
Cars were passing me all the time. Foreigners come from all over to see the rally. It's Europe's gay equivalent to NASCAR: 1.6liter turbo motors and just [expletive] daring on some really scary mountain roads.
I had my thumb out over the official rally program. I figured that I'd get a ride right away. After all, one doesn't usually see an ancient gringo, blinded by the beauty of the landscape, hitchiking the backroads of Mexico. But I might as well have been painted into the landscape itself, as Mexicans say, for all our European brethern cared. That is, nobody even dared look at me, let alone pick me up.
Another [expletive deleted] moment. Was I going to have to hump it all the way up the hill? We're talking about around a thousand feet of elevation and maybe 3-5 miles' walk. I've been in these situations a lot. My theme song: "Ain't got no spare/Ain't got no jack/Don't give a [expletive]/Ain't coming back". But the brilliance of the moment in the Mexican countryside made it impossible for me to think about getting frustrated and discouraged.
Edited on Mar 7, 2011 at 7:26pmRe: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
I think that was actually sort of the point. The beaten up guy was a Jew. Historically, Jews despised Samaritans (and vice versa, I imagine). So that two Jews would walk by a fellow Jew, and that the only person to stop would be a Samaritan (!), that was a pretty big deal.
Mar '11
Re: Good Samaritans Are Rare These Days
About a mile and a half from wghere I left my car, I ran into a typical Mexican country town. Up ahead I saw what I thought was a garbage truck loading garbage off the side of the road. As I got closer, I realized that these were some local yokels and I was looking right into the face of extreme poverty. They were buying vegetables off a traveling salesman.
At least they'd have some info. How far was it? and so forth. Well... the man said, it's still quite a way.But a quicker way was to go straight up the wash I'd just passed. On the other hand, it was a better deal to stick by the road and hitchhike.
Oh, really? It sounded like a good idea, but nobody's going to pick me up. These people are <i>ojetes</i> (a Mexican expression equavalent to "shmuck"). Don't believe me? Watch this!
I put on my rally-program-and-thumb act for the next SUV load of Swedes coming up the road. Like clockwork: I was still just painted into the colorful Mexican landscape.