What ever happened to the good samaritan?

You know the story.   The Good Samaritan
So to recap:
A Jewish man is robbed and beaten and left on the roadside near death.  People walk past him, around him, some even cross the road to avoid him.  Everyone pretends like he doesn't exist.  One man stops and helps him, soothes and bandages his wounds; puts him on the back of his donkey and takes him to an Inn to care for him; gives the innkeeper money and says to take care of him, and that if his bill should run higher than what was given, that he would pay the innkeeper when he comes again.

*If I am not mistaken the key points of this story are that the men that are mentioned to walk past the half dead Jewish Man are a Priest and a Temple Assistant.  And the Man that stops to save him is a Samaritan; noted enemies of the Jewish people.

At the end of the parable The Lawyer which asks the question in the first place "And who is my neighbor?"  is asked a question in return "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?"

 He answers Christ saying "He that showed mercy on him"  and Jesus replies "go and do thou likewise"; basically telling the smart aleck lawyer that everyone is your neighbor.

I try to live by this principal.  I try to help when I can, even if it is an inconvenience at times.  I was 45 minutes late to an important meeting because my good friend R and I tried to boost a van for a couple who had a toddler (it was the dead of winter and frigid doesn't come close to describing the weather).  After 3 unsuccessful attempts and boosting their van we opted to just drive them home.  I've taken care of kids at the last minute, gone to friends houses to help clean when they have been under the weather and gotten behind.  Dropped everything to help a neighbor locate a missing child...missing a birthday party because of it.

I didn't do these things because I wanted recognition, I did it because sometimes things just need to be done.

So let me tell you about my non-Samaritan neighbor.

My family has been sick for the last several weeks; really, really sick; flu pandemic sick.  Though not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. *sigh.  Thank Goodness for small blessings*  It started at the top and quiet literally has made it's way to the bottom.  Constantine was the last of us to get sick, and I put him to bed on Wednesday night with a slight sniffle and a cough.  Thursday his cough was worse, and after his nap that afternoon his breathing was quite labored and very shallow.

I watched him for an hour and just before the kids got home from school I decided he needed to go to emergency.  I ran through a mental list of people I could call on to help.  Most were either welcoming their own kids home from school or working.  I knew if need be I could take all 4 of my kids with me, but that still left the 2 school-age boys I care for without supervision.

For those who don't know me; I am not known to panic.  I am very level headed and down to earth.  I do well in the face of pressure.  But somehow this was different and I was having a hard time stopping the panic from creeping up and clutching my heart.

I decided the best course of action was to ask my next door neighbor to stay with the 2 boys while I took my kids with me.   She's a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom), but her boys are all grown up.

I knocked on her door and quickly explained that my baby was very sick and I needed to get him to children's emerg; however I had 2 boys I cared for after school.  I asked if she would please come and stay with them so I could take my kids and leave for the hospital immediately.
 Her response?  well it wasn't "Sure I'll be right over".

"If your baby is that sick you should phone 911"  *Sure dipstick, but that doesn't help me with the supervision and care of the 2 boys that aren't my own*.  Then she continued, "Will someone be coming to take over for me?  Because I can only stay for a couple of minutes...and if there are sick kids over there then I don't want to be there at all."

Well let me tell you, my jaw quite literally dropped.  After staring at her for a split second I gathered myself up and told her not to worry about it, that I would make other arrangements.  *Though honestly I wasn't sure what those other arrangements would be*.  I turned around and without another word I left.

When I got home I made a couple of phone calls to the parents of the boys I care for and one call to my best friend.  While on the phone with one of the parents my neighbor knocked on my door.  I motioned for her to come in, and then turned around and finished my conversation.  At this point I was pretty positive that I was going to have a neighbor girl watch the boys for me, I was going to drop my other 3 kids off at my girlfriend Rachelle's house, and I was just waiting for everyone to get home from school so I could solidify my plans.

My neighbor is standing in front of me and says "I can watch them if you need me to."  Well now I am just P.O.'d, and so I push past her and head outside.  "No thanks, I'm having the 12 year old across the street come and watch them.  I don't need you."

"Are you sure?"

"Nope, I have it under control.  Don't worry about it."  and with that I start walking up the sidewalk to meet the kids as they come home from school.

The finale of this story can be summed up quite easily.  My best friend Rachelle saves the day, and sensing my panic tells me that she is coming over to watch all the kids for me so that I can just take Constantine and go to emerg.  With this, please know that she has 3 of her own kids, and without a second thought she packed them all up in the van and was at my house in less then half an hour. 


So my neighbor...
At first I was really mad that she could so blatantly and rudely refuse a plea for help.  Then I was just confused.  I wasn't asking her to watch five kids for 7 or 8 hours.  Just 2 boys for an hour at most.  She has 3 sons herself, so I didn't think it would be a stretch for her.  Yeah, it was inconvenient, she had her bathing suit (and cover up) on, so maybe she was hoping to get one last swim in their pool in before the nice weather is gone...but still.

So much for "go and do thou likewise".