There But For the Grace of God
Ran into a woman at the park today who seemed very lost and confused. She asked me to give her a ride to Lowe’s. But she wasn’t sure which Lowe’s. And she said she had been walking from her house, trying to find Lowe’s. But according to where she said she lived, her house was at least 6 miles from there. She seemed to be very lost.
Thinking she might be an Alzheimer’s sufferer (even though she only seemed to be in her 50’s), I called the police, figuring they might be able to track down where she was supposed to be, or know if someone had reported her missing.
The police arrived a few minutes later and called the home number she gave them, but no one answered. Then she gave them another number, one for her aunt and uncle. Turns out she was staying with her aunt and uncle a few miles from the park, and the Lowe’s she was trying to get to was near the house she had just moved out of, which was in another city. Her aunt and uncle were, indeed, looking for her, and told the police officer they’d come and pick her up. The police said they’d wait with her until her relatives arrived to get her.
The police officer thanked me for staying with her. I said, “That’s fine. I’d just hate to see her wandering around lost all day.” The police officer replied, “Yeah, it could be your aunt or other relative.” I replied, “Or it could be me.” He looked at me and nodded. But I could tell he didn’t quite understand what I was saying.
But something struck me as odd about what the police officer had said, about how it could be my aunt or other relative, and so that’s a good reason to help her. Why does someone have to be related to us in order for us to help them? Isn’t it enough that they’re a human being (or just any kind of being)? Why is it that one wouldn’t want that to happen to a relative of theirs; but if it’s not a relative, well, that’s a different story?
I think this insular attitude, that those who are close to us should be helped, but if someone’s a stranger, well, it’s not our responsibility, is one of the problems with the world. If we can live in a little bubble of our friends, co-workers, and relatives, and not worry about anyone outside of that little bubble, then we’re truly more lost than that woman today was.
And that brings me to the second thing I found strange about the police officer’s statement: that he didn’t seem to comprehend what I was talking about when I said, “Or it could be me.”
Ten, twenty years from now, that could be me wandering around, lost and confused. Or I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, suffer brain damage, and be in that situation right now.
The point is that none of us knows what will happen to us tomorrow. And if we think we can’t be in the same situation as anyone else in the world, then we’re just deluding ourselves.
There’s the story of the famous preacher who was walking down the road with someone and came upon a man passed out drunk on the sidewalk. His friend started talking about how wretched this person was to be passed out drunk in the middle of the afternoon, and so on. The preacher stopped him and then replied with the now-famous words: “There but for the grace of God go I.”
I think that just about says it all.
Thinking she might be an Alzheimer’s sufferer (even though she only seemed to be in her 50’s), I called the police, figuring they might be able to track down where she was supposed to be, or know if someone had reported her missing.
The police arrived a few minutes later and called the home number she gave them, but no one answered. Then she gave them another number, one for her aunt and uncle. Turns out she was staying with her aunt and uncle a few miles from the park, and the Lowe’s she was trying to get to was near the house she had just moved out of, which was in another city. Her aunt and uncle were, indeed, looking for her, and told the police officer they’d come and pick her up. The police said they’d wait with her until her relatives arrived to get her.
The police officer thanked me for staying with her. I said, “That’s fine. I’d just hate to see her wandering around lost all day.” The police officer replied, “Yeah, it could be your aunt or other relative.” I replied, “Or it could be me.” He looked at me and nodded. But I could tell he didn’t quite understand what I was saying.
But something struck me as odd about what the police officer had said, about how it could be my aunt or other relative, and so that’s a good reason to help her. Why does someone have to be related to us in order for us to help them? Isn’t it enough that they’re a human being (or just any kind of being)? Why is it that one wouldn’t want that to happen to a relative of theirs; but if it’s not a relative, well, that’s a different story?
I think this insular attitude, that those who are close to us should be helped, but if someone’s a stranger, well, it’s not our responsibility, is one of the problems with the world. If we can live in a little bubble of our friends, co-workers, and relatives, and not worry about anyone outside of that little bubble, then we’re truly more lost than that woman today was.
And that brings me to the second thing I found strange about the police officer’s statement: that he didn’t seem to comprehend what I was talking about when I said, “Or it could be me.”
Ten, twenty years from now, that could be me wandering around, lost and confused. Or I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, suffer brain damage, and be in that situation right now.
The point is that none of us knows what will happen to us tomorrow. And if we think we can’t be in the same situation as anyone else in the world, then we’re just deluding ourselves.
There’s the story of the famous preacher who was walking down the road with someone and came upon a man passed out drunk on the sidewalk. His friend started talking about how wretched this person was to be passed out drunk in the middle of the afternoon, and so on. The preacher stopped him and then replied with the now-famous words: “There but for the grace of God go I.”
I think that just about says it all.
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