Good Sam

So this guy is going along, whistling on a sunny day,

enjoying his ride and thinking about the fact that people
don't like him, they're afraid of him because of where
he comes from and what he looks like and he's thinking
how much that sucks when he's basically friendly,
and he sees this dude by the side of road who is clearly,
clearly not enjoying anything. Guy stops to take a look
and the dude is messed up. Like somebody didn't want
him to live, messed up, and the guy thinks, "Maybe he'll
make it and maybe he won't, but it's not my problem."
But then he thinks about the animals. The guy has a good
imagination and he sees, in his mind's eye, what the dude
will look like when the wild animals are through eating
him alive. Shuddering, he picks the dude up and lays him
over his horse. Did I mention the guy was riding a horse?
Plus, he thinks that if he were lying on the ground after
having the shit beat out of him, he'd appreciate some help,
even if the guy helping was the wrong color or from the wrong
side of the tracks or on an old horse instead of a sleek thoroughbred.
So he takes him to a little mom-and-pop roadside inn and pays
in advance, stops off at the corner pharmacy to buy supplies,
dresses the dude's wounds until he looks like a mummy,
but he's clean and alive, and his chances of making it just improved
exponentially, and he's thinking the dude won't mind
that his medical training is limited as long as
he's been taken care of. And the guy has no idea that
a couple of deep thinking religious types passed
the dude without even stopping. He doesn't know what
the dude believes or how he votes or who he has
sex with (assuming he does). He doesn't even know if this
is a good dude or a bad dude, a rich dude or a poor dude,
but he couldn't let the dude get eaten alive, something the guy
feels should be avoided whenever possible. He'll leave
the dude to rest while he does his business and check
on him after, maybe offer him a lift home. If he doesn't
have a home, he can bunk with him for awhile, he guesses.
The dude is skinny. He won't take up much room. And maybe,
the guy thinks, the dude is rich and will give him a lot
of money for helping, and he starts to fuss at himself for being shallow
and self-serving until it dawns on him that even if he'd
stopped because there might be a reward, or a pat on the back,
or just a thank you, even if he'd stopped because of what he'd
get in return (which in this case, was not what happened at all),
the dude would still not be eaten by wild animals,
and that is the whole point. Isn't it?



(c) Ellen Gillette, 2013