Selfless kindness & compassion

It is July 5th and I am writing this after Super Saturday or whatever phrase we use for acknowledging this day of independence from fifteen weeks of lockdown whilst recognising that Covid-19 has not yet been defeated. So, is there any positive news about these unprecedented times? I believe there
is because life tends to challenge us on this adventurous journey of existence, from birth to death. With both some negative and positive experiences, whether we like it or not we all must navigate the choices we are called to make in life. So, after that existential preamble are you a glass half full
or glass half empty type of person? Relevant with the pubs re-opening!

A comment was made today on the BBC Andrew Marr programme by Sir Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of the NHS. He said that at the start of the Coronavirus Pandemic, the NHS was concerned
and preparing for around two million people requiring hospital treatment with perhaps a third of these patients possibly ending up in Intensive Care. In absolute sensitivity to the families who have lost loved ones through this invisible enemy, we can at least be grateful that it has not been worse in terms of the number of deaths.

Now the government has the painful task of addressing the economic fallout which we are now realising and is going to be extremely challenging. Certain sectors of the business community have been supported through the Furlough scheme which will probably finish at the end of October. Of course, we live in the region where the hospitality sector has been decimated and so with care, we need to support our leisure industry whilst staying alert. I would suggest though that this Covid-19 disease is particularly a challenge for the older generation and would encourage younger members of the community to be sensitive to older family members and friends.

The one constant thing that has been obvious through these last weeks is the self-sacrifice of the NHS staff and many who have volunteered with support and acts of kindness towards their fellow man. Prince Charles statement about the NHS ‘remarkable selflessness’ on the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the NHS expressed what many of us felt. What motivates this kind of selfless kindness?

The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a Jewish traveller who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First a priest and
then a Levite comes by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan happens upon the traveller. At this time in history, Samaritans and Jews despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured man. Jesus is described as telling the parable in response to the question from a lawyer, “And who is my neighbour? In response, Jesus tells the parable, the conclusion of which is that the neighbour figure in the parable is the man who shows mercy to the injured man—that is, the Samaritan. He
then takes the injured soul to a local Inn and tells the Inn keeper to take care of the man and pays the Inn keeper for the care of the injured traveller.

The story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ is often interpreted as the world and all its’ troubles being represented by the traveller who is beset on his or her journey by robbers, killers and thieves. Jesus
Himself is the Good Samaritan who tends the beaten up and robbed traveller with His care and healing and says to us all who can ‘open up with the spiritual or material resource gained through your own experience and influence’ to take care of this vulnerable person. Jesus then tells us in the parable that he will support us as we take care of the traveller in our own ‘Inns of Care’. This is the fulfilment of the first and second commandment to ‘Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and the second is like it to love your neighbour as yourself.’

Well done to all who have shown the courage of true love in these challenging times.

(This article was first published in the August edition of the Plymouth Chronicle.)