The way I see it, we need a lot more GOOD SAMARITANS in our world.
On Wednesday of this week, I travelled to St. Kitts to record a portion of the grand finals in the Secondary Schools Cricket championship, between the Washington Archibald High School and defending champions, the Charlestown Secondary School.
Having recorded the CSS innings, I left for Nevis on one of the ferries, comfortable in the thought that CSS would win the coveted trophy.
As I settled down for my usual boat ride snooze, a good friend of mine, Paula Elliot, came by me and we got engaged in an interesting conversation about current affairs etc.
She was about to say something and as she looked forward, she let out a gasp and then she hustled away.
I watched intently, trying to figure what had happened and saw her attending to a young male.
Rewind for just a moment. Earlier I had seen the young man and his brother board the boat, wearing identical T-shirts in commemoration of a loved one, whose funeral service they had gone overseas to attend.
The shirts looked impressive and attracted some attention.
Now back to the present state of affairs. I saw Paula speaking with one of the ship mates and asking for such things as water, napkins and peroxide. She only got the water and the napkins.
I also observed that no one—absolutely no one in close proximity, had moved from their seats to assist the young man and Paula had covered all of about twenty meters to get to his aid.
Well I newa!
Shockingly, the brother did not move from his nearby seat to attend to his sibling. Maybe he had never read the biblical admonition about being ‘our brother’s keeper.’
Among those in close proximity, was a veteran, retired Nurse and she did not ‘weg’ either.
I did not move because I realized then that Paula had everything under control.
When she got back, she explained that apparently the guy was sleeping and he awoke and was apparently heading up the stairway to go to the bathroom and his foot hit the step awkwardly and at the same time, the boat rocked.
He was pummeled forward and smashed his lower lip into the stairs!
He was obviously dazed and came away with a busted lip. There was quite some bleeding as a result.
The crew members at the back did not respond either, except for the one who assisted with the water and the napkins.
Fortunately, GOOD SAMARITAN Paula is trained in first aid and actually runs a health care business and has a clientele in St. Kitts and Nevis.
So, she is very knowledgeable and handled the situation like a true professional.
Now here is another shocker. She said the brother, instead of coming to the aid of his brother, stayed in his seat and shouted: ‘Bwoy you mess up di shirt!’
Well I newa!
Who cares about a shirt, no matter how nice and expensive it is, when someone is bleeding and hurting?
When Paula asked one of the crew men to wash away the blood, he stated that he will wait until the boat got to Nevis.
It begs the question: Are our ferries equipped with first aid stuff and are the crew men trained in first aid?
Paula’s swift reaction reminds me of the biblical story of the good Samaritan who when he saw the man who ‘fell among thieves,’ rushed to his aid, despite the possible dangers to his personal wellbeing.
The Priest and the Levite passed by on the other side, because they had ‘more important things to deal with,’ or ‘somebody else was going to do it.’
What Paula did on that day is noteworthy and I give her kudos now. I won’t wait for a useless eulogy to say that I am truly proud of her.
By God’s grace however, we need to try our utmost to seek to be GOOD SAMARITANS on a daily basis.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?