Caring Is Best Explained When Demonstrated

Years ago I flew to Minneapolis to speak at a conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Near downtown Minneapolis my taxi stopped at a red light four cars back from the crosswalk. I noticed a homeless man lurching between the cars in the middle of the street. When he got to the front of my taxi, he fell and landed on his chin. His chin split open, and there was blood all over the place.

As I looked at this man six feet away, these thoughts went through my head:
1. I have a brand-new suit on that Gail just bought me. I can’t afford to get messed up.
2. I have to get to the convention center to speak in fifteen minutes.
3. I’m in a strange city, and I don’t know what to do.
4. I don’t have any medical training. I wouldn’t know how to help this guy.

I wonder if underneath there wasn’t a fifth thought: If you’re dumb enough to get that drunk, why should someone stop and help you?

For a few seconds those thoughts militated against any movement on my part. Before I could come to better senses, other people came rushing to this man’s help, and I was able to get back into my taxi and go on to the convention center to speak about sensitivity and caring for the needs of other human beings. Isn’t that stupid?

 — Gordon MacDonald, from the sermon “Pointing to Jesus: Generosity,” 
Grace Chapel, Lexington, Massachusetts 
(February 22, 1998)