The Guilty Bystander / Part One
“Looking for a loophole, he asked, ‘And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”
During the Christmas season, I think it’s really a great time to remember the global village we are now all a part of. Whether or not we realize or even own up to it.
Just take a look at a snapshot of say, one hundred of the world’s beautiful people. The resources we all possess are pretty unevenly distributed. You are aware of this huge discrepancy, right? Because the fact is that the richest person in our village has as much as the poorest 57 of the 100 combined.
And the truth is that it’s not clear if they’re willing to share their goodies with anyone else.
- The sad reality is that fifty of the people living in our little village of 100 don’t have a reliable source of food and are hungry most or all of the time.
- Thirty of the people in our village suffer from malnutrition.
- Forty don’t have access to adequate sanitation and 31 are actually living in substandard housing.
- Thirty-one don’t have electricity and 15 don’t have clean and safe drinking water.
- Overall, 19 of the people in our village survive on less than $1 a day and almost half of our village lives on less than $2 a day.
But let’s cut to the chase. Honestly, what does this have to do with me as an American? Who really is my neighbor?
Hold that thought while we ponder another -
Who do you most readily identify with in Jesus’ famous story of the Good Samaritan?
I think that all of us can relate not only to the Good Guy in the famous tale of noble deeds done, but also to the two other guys that just seemed a bit too preoccupied with their own lives to ‘help a brutha out.’ Come to think of it, we have probably been at various times of our lives, all four of the main characters in the story – the one who stopped to help someone in need, the two too busy to stop, and the poor soul that had fallen upon hard times and needed a helping hand.
I think I can also safely say that none of us want to feel like one of the bystanders that watch someone else suffer and we fail to act.
But what about when it comes to the global village? Do you and I unknowingly assume the position of the bystander in the global village we are now a part of? In other words, do I watch the outside broken world from the safe confines of my fortress? Be it my suburban castle, my self-constructed little world, the place I call church, or whatever?
Further, have I come to embrace a meaningless, narcissistic Western form of faith that has taught me to safely justify my non-actions to the world around me? Has the consumptive, American brand falsely taught me that I really don’t need to be involved? In other words, is it really okay with God for me to be a bystander in his global village?
Hasn’t the story of the Good Samaritan taught me to know better? Have we missed the point of Jesus’ parable? Does it not shout to us to reach out to the people we encounter in life that are in great need? To those very different from us? To those we encounter in the global village?
Or has, quite frankly, the theology and practice of our American churches taught us to look the other way? To take upon the form of the guilty bystander? To smugly believe in our own hearts, ‘It’s not really my problem, is it?’
What does God say is the truest and purest form of religion? Would it be that assuming the role of the bystander is no longer ok? Does not true spirituality teach us to choose right relationship to others in the world around us? To do what Jesus truly values most? Is not real faith whether or not we decide to respond to the most vulnerable members of our global village?
If these past couple of years have taught me anything, it’s that the question of ‘Who is my neighbor?’ stretches much father than a few steps beyond my front door. God has allowed me the privilege of meeting beautiful new neighbors such as Bhutanese refugees, orphans in Tijuana, and homeless children living on the streets of Las Vegas.
By the grace of God, I am seeing my neighbors through a whole new lens. They truly are my neighbors, because we all live in the same village.
And I want to be a good neighbor.
(I am grateful for the words and influence of Daniel Groody and his wonderful book, Globalization, Spirituality and Justice, from where I have based many of these thoughts, including the term, ‘guilty bystander.’)
barryjacobdiamond
