(cont.)
In the last post, I wrote about the need to steer clear of craziness. However, what about being a good Samaritan? Shouldn’t we try to help all fractured people?
If I see a strange guy with a flat tire on the side of the road, I don’t stop to help. I wouldn’t know how to fix my own flat tire, so there wouldn’t be much point. Now, if I saw someone I knew in the same predicament, I might pull over--just to keep them company until help arrived. Unless I knew, from prior experience, that this person was harmful in some way.
How can one distinguish between a wounded person and a crazy person? Every individual is wounded in some way. Yet, not all are dangerously crazy. Wounded people are seldom entertaining. Truly wounded people are too weak to pull us down to their level or to injure us.
In our attempt to be good Samaritans, we sometimes try to help people who are beyond our capacity to help. We might be motivated by good intentions or just an inflated savior complex. Often, we get pulled down into the ditch in our attempts to help. We are likely to injure ourselves and those who are traveling with us. This is why it is important to be discerning Samaritans--those who help the truly wounded, while still keeping themselves and their loved ones safe from danger.
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