It was raining this morning! Only four hours of sleep. I ditched my first class this morning, just to get that much sleep. Barely did I wake up at 9:30 and was on the road by 9:45. By skipping my first class I ended up parking in a different section on campus. nbsp;

I started  to head in to the building and there was a car with its lights on. “I hate when I do that. Wouldn’t it be frustrating to get out of a long day of classes and have to get a jump start in the rain,” I thought to myself. I walked into the Commons area and announced to about eighty people, “If anyone has a red Ford Taurus, with license plate number, such and such, your lights are on,” and I went on my way. I made a few reference about it to people whom I thought it might belong to, but no takers.

After two hours at school, I went out to my car to go home. The lights of the car where still on.  I then wandered back into the halls and interrupted a few classes, and made the announcement. No takers. I walked into the Commons and announced it again. “Anyone with a red Ford Taurus with license plate, such and such, your lights are still on.”

A friend of mine got my attention and I walked over to her. She said, “You are such a good Samaritan.” I deflected the comment, by saying to her, “I thought you women were supposed to be discerning. I think you missed it on that one.”  It was a self depreciating comment, but that fits right along with my style of self depreciating humor. All that aside, the comment really irritated me.

I checked my thoughts. ‘Ok, you’ve only have four hours sleep. She was just trying to acknowledge your concern.’ I wasn’t irritated with her at all; the comment irritated me.  I wandered off to the Library, and the Librarian had me announce it to those there. I made my way back to my car. “Yep, lights still on.”

I looked in the car and saw some men’s sandals on the back floor board, a coffee cup in the cup holder, a nicer men’s tweed jacket in the front passenger seat.  I thought, ‘Maybe the car belongs to one of the faculty?’ 

I got in my car and drove over to the administration building, the receptionist said she would send out an E-mail to the staff. I got back in my car and headed home.

That comment was still bugging me. ‘What was intrinsically wrong with that comment?’ I thought to myself; as I pondered the question on my 15 minute drive home, I realized then something about our culture. We think things like that are good deeds. But, my spirit has an intrinsic rebellion to that type of thinking. That should not be considered a good deed to be honored; that should be considered a normal deed in society.

Usually, we equate good with something up and beyond the rest of society, but I don’t believe we should think that way. I think helping one another; even helping strangers should be a normal deed.

When one person of society sees another person struggling while walking home with their groceries, why not step away from what we are doing and carry them home for them. I personally step away from their porch, so they see that I am not a threat or danger. Just think what a much better world this would be if everyone normally helped each other out; what a world this would be if good was normal.

In all this I don’t propose that we as a society should abandon discernment in our chasing after normal deeds, because that would just lead to being taken advantage of. Let me use an example. Last week I was pulling up to the curb as I got home with take out food for dinner. This young gal about eighteen hollered over to me, “Give me a ride!”  I didn’t know she was talking to me at first. I parked and I got out of the car. My hands were full. She said, “Give me a ride!” Immediately, the hackles of my spirit rose up. I said, “No” quite firmly. She looked down at herself, she had no shoes, she was dressed in very short shorts, a tank top with her bra straps hanging out, and shrugged her shoulder like, ‘what am I not pretty enough for you, how dare you tell me no.’ I thought to myself, ‘If you are not prudent enough to not get in a car with a stranger, I sure as hell don’t want you anywhere around me.’  She was trouble from the word go. Plus, she didn’t introduce herself, and she didn’t ask. Not that that would have helped her to get a ride.

So, normal deeds should not lack discernment, and what should be normal deeds should not be considered as good.  

 
This reminds me of two ancient texts; the first one is from the Tao, chapter two:

When people see things as beautiful,
ugliness is created.
When people see things as good,
evil is created.

For me, this alludes to when we see normal deeds and we consider them of exceptional quality, then we may use that as an excuse to be think either we are great, or that our apathy and coldness for others is normal. When the normal way is coldness and apathy, thinking that coldness and apathy are good is not far away; if we are not there already.

The other text that this issue reminds me of is a statement Jesus made:
 
Lk 17:10 “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”

The principle I see here is that when we do something others praise as good, we should not considered it to be good, but as normal. And, we should not consider ourselves good, but as servants to one another, and unworthy to serve the honorable strangers that cross our paths.

God Bless and may your days be filled with the normal joy of both giving and receiving.

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Sacred Texts Taken from:

Tao Te Ch’ing, a translation for the public domain by J. H. McDonald, 1996 Web. http://www.wright-house.com/religions/taoism/tao-te-ching.html

The Holy Bible, New International Version. Pradis CD-ROM