Notes for Dad [Samaritans...], 68: Kitiki #475
Be a Samaritan: no hate, rather show hope and provide help
“Good morning. Get your morning coffee as we think about what Sir Thomas Browne told us in 1642, “Charity begins at home, but should not end there.”
Last week I ended our little chat with: “As dads there is so much we are challenged with, least of it, providing some roadmap for our children, especially our sons, who in the midst of so much pressure to be something, they neglect themselves.”
Today I’d like to remind all of us nothing in life is perfect. You have an opportunity to take whatever you have, make it your own, and in the process? Learn to respect those people you know who do the same. That way you have an opportunity to learn, share, and grow as a person, a human being, and a dad.
Three events since last Saturday exploded on the front pages. The death of a professor at Brown University, Bondi Beach anti-Semitic killings in Australia and irreverent comments about a son killing his parents.
It’s a sad time. Truly a sad time to be without love. I often wonder where hate originates. For me and many it began at home. Paul told Timothy in Timothy 5:8, “if anyone doesn’t provide for his relative … he has denied the faith.” Hate may have its origin at home, but so does love.
My aunt raised me and taught me to believe love starts at home, and felt the Bible teaches us about how we can love rather than deny that gift. One of the most consequential examples to help us is the parable of the Good Samaritan. It illustrates being a good neighbor where love should flourish from the homes located side by side.
Luke 10:26 talks about a man attacked by robbers and how a priest, and a Levite both ignore the man. But a Samaritan doesn’t. The Samaritan sees him and comes to his aid.
Hate: why would someone who professes to be a follower of Christ go to the other side. It’s ironic when you think of what the other side of the road might imply. It’s different if the chance to help is not in front of you but sometimes you can’t challenge things unless you see them. We know what hate is and to not admit what we see is as criminal as if we committed the crime. The priest was a criminal. Not so much for passing on the other side but choosing not to show love. All the priest had to do was do something. Not a good neighbor! Was it hate? It definitely was not love.
Hope: The Levites were a tribe of Israelites descended from Levi, son of Jacob. Levis were chosen for special service to God, acting as assistants to the priests and performed the most sacred rituals like sacrifices and served as a distinct, subordinate order after the classic golden calf disobedient incident at Sinai. The hope would be that Levites would assist those in need, but like the priest the injured person was ignored. Somewhere in the story, hope exists and often it’s not in the eyes of those we think we would love us. Sometimes as we see them, we hope they will see us too!
Help: It’s in our hope that things get complicated and flounder as sometimes we can’t get beyond the hate. We can’t give up! It overwhelms and overpowers us. Hate consumes and before we suffocate, we gasp for air, realizing we need all the help we can get to remove limitations that surround us on who our neighbors are. Slicing innocents with malicious slurs kills more than we imagine. Jesus pointedly rails as those full of self-righteousness at who’s the hero here and who is our neighbor. Without a doubt, those that come to our aid may not look like us and be despised by us as the Samaritans were, but it was a Samaritan who rushed to help! As so many immigrants have done without question, because it’s the right thing to do.
Hate saps. Hope heals. Help cures.
So why today? Why did it feel an urgent need to speak out about this to dads? Future dads need an example of how to be a citizen, a comforter, a collaborator on why it doesn’t matter who gives help, be prudent about accepting it but also in giving hope.
You never know when you might be attacked, but each day you should give your children an opportunity to decide which person they’ll replicate. Hopefully it will the Samaritan.
Remember this Substack is not reader supported. It is free and always will remain free. It’s part of my gift back, to show my patriotism as a veteran; to show my desire to learn and teach as a teacher, and most of all, to show my love for America. Please feel free to share, comment or like. I’d appreciate all three.