One morning, a man, his wife, and their granddaughter went to a popular vacation theme park for a fun day trip. They rode all their favorite rides, watched a parade, bought souvenirs and trinkets, enjoyed a show, and marveled at all the people who decided to come to the park, too. It was a very hot and humid day – more like late summer than late spring.
By early in the afternoon, the crowds of people were showing signs of the heat – babies were cranky and crying and so were some of the dads. The grandparents decided it was a good time to go home even though everyone else was staying.
They walked out to the hot parking lot, trying to remember exactly where their truck was parked. They were startled to see a woman lying on the ground between two cars.
The man said, “Are you okay? Do you need some help?” The woman nodded yes. She was a paraplegic and she had fallen out of the rented electric mobility scooter as she was getting into her car. She had been lying on the hot pavement for 30 to 45 minutes and had become too weak from the heat to call out for help.
The man knelt down and propped her up to get her out of the direct sun. The man and his wife tried to move her, but she wasn’t able to help them and they were unable to move her to the chair or to the car. The grandmother said, “I’ll go get help.” The young girl positioned herself beside the woman, blocking the sun and speaking to her in a calm voice.
The grandmother ran back to the park and found two security guards. She was out of breath, but she told them that she and her husband had come across a woman who had fallen in the parking lot. One security guard was annoyed and wanted to know what she wanted him to do about it. She said that if he was refusing to help, she would call 911 and get help. The second security guard told her that he would call for help and offered to go back to the parking lot with her.
On the way back, the security guard asked if the woman was conscious. He was beginning to realize the severity of the situation.
When they reached the woman on the ground, the man and the security guard tried to lift the woman, but the security guard wasn’t strong enough. Finally, a younger, stronger security guard rode up on his bicycle approaching from the front of the vehicle. As he took in the scene of the woman on the ground and the electric scooter, he rode his bicycle around the row to the rear of the vehicle. He obviously had developed an opinion of people who ride the park’s electric scooters, and it was not very positive. “Malingerers” was written all over his face. He was asked to assist with lifting the woman to the chair, but he acted reluctant to touch her. The grandfather gave the woman a bear hug from behind. With the smaller security guard assisting, he was able to get the woman into the chair.
The grandfather said, “She needs to go to the Aide Station to cool down and be rehydrated.”
The bicycling security guard said, “She’s refusing evaluation. We can’t make her.”
The grandfather said, “I am saying that she has to go to the Aide Station to cool down and be rehydrated. She’s agreeing to that.”
The little girl reached into the car for the woman’s cell phone and handed it to her. The grandmother rolled up the car windows and locked the car and gave the woman her keys.
The smaller security guard told the woman, “I’ll go with you.” As the woman maneuvered her electric mobile scooter towards the park with tears streaming down her face, she said “Thank you” to the man, his wife, and the little girl. And the grandmother told her, “I will pray for you.”
Who were the woman’s neighbors? Does this sound familiar? In the days of Jesus, Samaritans were regarded with disdain by the “real” religious Jewish leaders. Unless I’m missing something, Samaritan isn’t looking all that bad from my viewpoint.
Scratchings from
Ceci, Church Mouse
