We all know Frank Baum's classic Oz series or at least the movie that made the story of Dorothy, a small Kansas farmgirl, an American icon. Were Dorothy and her dear Aunt Em alive today, they would probably find this story abhorrant and amazingly heartless.
I spent some time this weekend in a portion of my state that used to be considered Kansas territory. We were searching among the farms and small towns for a few fishing holes. Coming down one road, we passed a stable with a few cowboys and their friends. One of them waved at me. Having been raised part of my life in the city, it made an impression. It stands in stark relief to the tragic indifference that lies a few hundred miles to the east.
Now, it's safe to say that people in the city don't wave. They probably are just too tired. But to step over a person who is lying on the ground bleeding is unequivocally wrong. Any decent person would help, samaritan or otherwise. Could it actually be five people simply stepped around a young woman dying? I can only wonder what would happen in Denver in the same circumstances.
This is the result of what the late Pope John Paul II called the culture of death. How can we counter such indifference to the suffering of others? The first step would be to seek life. I'm not talking about acquiring more things like those shoppers did. I'm talking about life to the full. This life centers around Jesus Christ. It is dedicated to finding and doing God's will. I haven't laid hold of it. I'm not quite there, but I keep pressing in further. Join me.
What really strikes me though, is how many of us will cluck and shake our heads and say how appauling it is (and truly it is), and continue on in our own self-centred existences. The problem did not begin with stepping over a dying lady. The problem began with the lack of simple common courteousies like holding doors for fellow shoppers, saying thank you, letting other drivers merge in before us, remembering to keep comments regarding health, weight, schooling choices, family size, and religious preferences tactfully to ourselves. We would surely never commit murder we say, but when I look in my heart and see anger and hatred there, have I not taken the first step towards it?
I love how you concluded this piece. "This life centers around Jesus Christ. It is dedicated to finding and doing God's will." And we know what God's will is, at least in broad terms: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8
I hope this will be a reminder to me to keep my eyes open for places to show even the littlest of compassions, even if I never have the responsibility of showing compassion in such a critical way as that article conveyed.
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