A Message for Our Time

It all happened decades ago, but the events of the evening remain forever seared in my memory. My husband and I had joined another couple for dinner at a downtown restaurant. The food had been good, the conversation easy and light. Afterward, the four of us strolled down the hill behind the restaurant toward the parking lot where we had left our cars. For some reason, I ended up walking a little faster than the others, so I arrived first. Near our car was a man lying very still on the asphalt. I leaned over to ask him what was the matter. In a barely audible whisper, he said “I’ve been shot.”

“We’ve got to call the police and an ambulance,” I shouted. “This guy has been shot.” My husband went into action.

The husband of the other couple grabbed his wife’s arm and pulled her toward their car. Over his shoulder, he yelled back, “We are not crazy. We are getting out of here.” Then they sped away.

We waited with the wounded man for the ambulance and police to arrive. You might say that what we did was not the wisest thing to do, and you would be right. The man was, it turned out, the victim of a robber who could have still been lurking nearby, but I’ll tell you the truth: If you ever lose the capacity to put someone else’s need over your own in a crisis situation, it’s time to turn in your membership card in the human race. If you allow fear or preoccupation with yourself to trump compassion, then the forces of evil will certainly win the day in your own soul and in our society.

Was it not overweening self concern that caused coaches, janitors, and administrators at Penn State to fail to act when they either saw children being sexually abused or were told of the incidents by eye witnesses? Their fear of damaging the school and their reputations and the massive sports empire that is the University took priority over the indisputable moral mandate to protect the children.

Listen. I am no goody two shoes. There have certainly been times in my life when I didn’t do what I should have done, but, with God’s help, I am learning to push through those internal forces -like fear- that keep me from being my better self. It’s a life-long process.

More than 200 years ago, Irish political philosopher Edmund Burke wrote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Is this not the message for our time?

Rev. Joanna