cross posted from Daily Kos
Hello everyone in Boomanland. This is an experiment to see how Sunday Griot is received over here. And what better way to start off this cross-posting experiment on an Easter Sunday than to tell the story of the Good Samaritan.
But you might not have heard it quite this way before . . . 
And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”
And he answered and said, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; Do this and you will live.”
But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
There was a man driving from Baltimore to Washington, and as he was driving along down the road one of his tires blew out. So he stopped the car, got out, opened the trunk, and was rummaging around for the jack when another car pulled up behind his and two men got out. He approached the two men, thinking they were there to help him change the tire, but instead they beat him, took his coat, wallet and watch, ransacked his car, and left him there for dead.
A few minutes later a TV preacher driving a Lexus approached the site of the mugging, but instead of stopping to help, he drove on by. “I’m already late,” he might have been thinking. “I have to record that sermon on helping the poor.”
Again, not long after that, a congressman in a BMW came down the road, and he too drove by. He was probably thinking about an omnibus crime bill that was coming up for a vote.
But then, after the congressman’s car had pulled out of view, a pickup truck stopped behind the mugging victim and a man got out. He was a tall man, with a set of impressive muscles and a crew cut.
And a swastika tattoo atop one of those muscles.
And a picture of Adolf Hitler on his dashboard.
The man went over to the mugging victim, took his pulse, and then returned to the car to dial 911 for help. When the ambulance arrived he followed it to the hospital, gave the ambulance driver his card with an address to send the bill to, and then had the man admitted to the hospital.
“Whatever it costs to treat this man,” he said, showing an ID, a business card and an American Express gold card, “I will pay it.” And then he went on his way.
“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”
And he said, “the one who showed mercy toward him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
Today is Easter Sunday, at least for most of us. It’s also the Sunday before April Fools’ day, so I had originally thought that I might post a story that didn’t have a big, obvious moral. Something that was just fun to tell.
So I sat down to write that story, and that annoying little voice inside my head that pops up at inconvenient times said, “Hey, this is Easter Sunday.”
“I know that,” I replied. “Now go do something useful. I have a story to write.”
“You should do one of Jesus’ stories,” the voice replied, showing no inclination to go anywhere.
“Are you crazy?” I answered. “Everyone knows those stories. Why would I want to tell them again, and try to tell them better than the Bible does?”
“I think you’d be surprised,” the voice continued. “For instance, take the parable of the Good Samaritan.”
“What about it?” I asked. I was a bit cranky, but just because the voice in my head doesn’t exist doesn’t mean it doesn’t occasionally have something worthwhile to say.
“Well, I doubt that most people know about the Samaritans. They lived on the borders of Judaea, and both the Samaritans and Jews vowed to have nothing to do with each other. For want of a better term, each accused the other of heresy. Stealing the True Religion and corrupting it.”
“Go on,” I said.
“If you were a Jew you couldn’t even touch a Samaritan. The Talmud said that anyone who did was just as bad as somone who ate pork. The Samaritans had a similar teaching. So not only did the good Samaritan risk ritual defilement, he risked ostracism from his community from trying to help this Jew.”
“Good point. And I could set this story in the present day. Make it a little more accessible to readers on Daily Kos.”
“Now you’re cookin'”
So I stopped and thought for a minute. “But who would take the place of the Samaritans? We don’t really have a country or people that we hate on an institutional basis, unless we believe certain types of propaganda I probably shouldn’t mention here.” And then in an attempt to be clever I coughed kofffoxnewskoff.
“Well, what about a child pornographer? Or a Klansman? We look down on them.”
“Well, it’s not quite the same, but I have to get this story written and that’s probably as close as I’m going to get.” Then I stopped to think again. “But won’t my readers have, well, let’s say a strong adverse reaction to having a white supremacist as the go-to guy in this story? I mean, we hate Nazis around here . . .”
“From Illinois or anywhere else.” One of the disadvantages the voice in my head has is that he’s seen all the same movies I have. “But don’t you suppose Jesus had the same thought when he used a Samaritan as the lead in His parable?”
“Yeah, I guess so . . . but what if the victim was black? Or Jewish? Or Muslim? Or some other category they want to wipe off the face of the earth?”
The reply came before I had a chance to answer my own question. “Well, who says he wasn’t? That’s sort of the point, isn’t it? We don’t know.”
At that point the voice in my head announced that he was going out for brunch with the delusion of someone I’d met at work. What they could possibly be brunching on, I don’t know, and I didn’t bother to ask. I had a story to write.
So I offer this to you, not in the spirit of a Christian teaching, but in the spirit of a reminder that we are all part of this world, and we really do need to take care of one another. After all, if you look at the world as a whole, no matter what group we are in, we are in the minority. We have to make connections with others to get along, and that means looking out for our neighbor. Who may be someone very different than you think.
Thank you for stopping by! Have a great Sunday, whether it’s Easter for you or not, and maybe next week we’ll do that for-the-fun-of-it story.
… recommended.
It reminds me a bit of a Kerry story, where he saved the life of some Republican congressman who was chocking to death.
What always broke my heart during the election season was that Bush was perceived as the one more likely to stop his car and help out a crash victim.
I always saw Bush as one who would swerve to finish you off.
I also like the voice in your head. Maybe mine and yours can get together for a drink sometime.
thought provoking, and well put. Thank you, even seeing the light with one eye, is better than the totatl darkness.
I’m glad you liked it!
in the post? I get a square with a question mark in it.
Back in a sec when I’ve finished reading.
I use a web bug to tell how many “hits” a particular diary gets. I’m curious as to how many people are actually reading Sunday Griot, and this is the only way I know to find out.
how does it work? Can it be made undetectable?
My response to your actual diary is upthread.
Basically I have my web server serve up a 1×1 graphic, then I have a program that goes through the logs and counts how many times that image has been fetched.
I wish there was a way to make this undetectable, but I don’t know what it would be. I think if I did I could make a fortune, because there are companies that would love to be able to tell when you’ve visited their site without being detected. But, I have sworn to use my powers for the forces of Good.
place the graphic someplace less obtrusive, like at the bottom of the post.
When I said undetectable I did not mean machine undetectable, I meant not visually jarring.
In the meantime, go read Alice and tell me what you think. I’d appreciate a response from such a word wizard and since you have vowed to do good and its the good Samaritan thing to do and all. ; )
Usually it does go at the bottom of the post. I don’t remember why it didn’t this time.
I’ll go take a look at alice and let you know what I think.
Great retelling, Redmond. I’m a cradle Catholic, with parochial school stripes, and I have to admit never understood the sociological aspect of the Samaritan’s tale until your story! People look at me really funny when I say you can find lots of valuable spiritual and religious insight on political blogs. But it’s true. What’s a griot?
I’ll post the long explanation I got from the site that gave me the inspiration to do this sometime. Suffice it for now to say that “griot” is a French word that applies to a class of storytellers and singers in Africa. The griot goes from town to town, telling stories, singing songs and in general passing on the culture of his (or lately occasionally, her) people. I decided a while back that the lefty blogosphere needed a griot, and I needed to sharpen my storytelling skills for the day when I need to supplement my piratized Social Security so I could afford extra helpings of Alpo. So me and the blogosphere were sorta made for each other.
Thank you for the kind words. I was sort of amazed when I found out about the Samaritans too. I had no idea of the depths of animosity between the Samaritans and the Jews, and that realization makes the story that much more meaningful.