Reading the Human Heart

This is another something I wrote years ago, posted on my poetry pages. As I said before, you see a person's true character when you are at their mercy. And if you choose not to see that character, that says something about you too.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ditch

     Funny things happen when you get hurt! It was a beautiful, sunny day as I walked along my favorite country road. I noticed a fresh new flower and I stopped to smell it, but when I did I stumbled into a ditch and twisted my leg. I tried to get up but the pain was too piercing. So I sighed and waited for help to come.
     Imagine my joy when I saw a man approach me with a Bible in hand - though he did have a scowl upon his face.
     "Please, sir, I have fallen-"
     "You have fallen because you are no good! This is plain to see! It is the righteous who are upright! And if you had been righteous, you would be upright, too!"
     The man stormed off, leaving me to mutter, "Did he say 'upright' or 'uptight'?"
     But I did not have long to moan before a preaching man came along - a true man of God - and I said to him, "Please, sir, there is something wrong with my leg-"
     "My dear son, there's nothing wrong with you. You are made in the image of God! Don't speak so poorly of yourself!"
     "But-"
     "No 'buts' about it! You're a good person! I believe in you!"
     This preaching man patted himself on the back and started on his way. I cried out to him, "I need help! My leg is hurting! I'm glad you believe in me, but-"
     "Good! Glad I could be of help!" he smiled as he waved goodbye.
     And I was left to mutter, "At least one of us can feel."
     Then down came the road a long, dark, expensive car I thought would never stop. But it did! A window rolled down and bundles of cash were thrown on top of me. "Here you go!" boomed a voice from the car. "Money will solve all you problems!"
     "What I really need is a ride into town!"
     "You're not fit for my car! The money will save you - it did me! Thank me later!"
     And the car moved on, leaving me to mutter, "Why does he think he's saved?"
     I really got excited by what I saw next. Three gorgeous girls, barely dressed, who loved the role of sex objects.
     "Can you girls help me up?" I eagerly asked.
     "Oh, you poor man! Can't you walk at all?"
     "Not a lick! Won't you girls give me a hand?"
     "Well, we think you're a sexist pig so we're going to take your money and go shopping! Maybe that will teach you some respect!"
     And they giggled away with all the money, leaving me to mutter, "Thank you for showing me respect."
     Next I saw a limping worker pulling a Man in a cart and I yelled to them, "Please! My leg is hurt! Help me get out of this mess!"
     But the Man in the cart replied, "You faker! I'm so sick of you people who won't help yourself!"
     So I appealed to the limping man, "Help me sir. Surely you know how I feel."
     "I am only a slave to the Man!"
     "Help me to town and you will be a slave no more!"
     "But I must be a slave! I do not want to be like the Man!"
     And he hobbled away, leaving me to mutter, "Moses lived in vain."
     By now I was really starting to get fed up! "Nobody gives a damn about me! The minute I need help no one will have a thing to do with me! Won't someone please help?"
     "I care!" yelled a man who came running. "I'll help you!"
     "Thank you, sir! You don't know what I've been through! You can't imagine the pain and anquish!"
     "Oh, but I can! Has it really been awful?"
     "Yes! I had stopped to smell a flower when I fell in this ditch, twisting my leg -"
     "What? You mean you fell in here all by yourself? You can't blame this on anyone?"
     "Well, no-"
     "Then stop wasting my time, you scum!"
     And he ran away, leaving me to mutter, "Goddam lawyers!"
     Then a blowhard came along followed by a herd of eager listeners, some of whom came to help me. But the blowhard reprimanded them, "Don't help that man! We can't be expected to solve the problems of the world!"
     And they scurried back, leaving me to mutter, "Doesn't anyone know what they're doing?"
     Then a gang of noisy and proud children straggled down the road, laughing at me. "Look at that stupid man in the ditch!"
     And they all lorded over me and spat on me and cackled, "Bet you wish you were us, huh?"
     "No," I honestly answered.
     Then they spat on me again and screamed, "Bet you wish you were us!"
     "No," I still answered. "But who taught you to act this way?"
     "Who hasn't!" they bitterly replied.
     "But do really think you can get away with this?"
     This made them laugh and they started to drift away taunting, "You can only hurt the people you're better than!"
     And I was left to mutter, "Are children really the mirror of society?"
     Next came the children's parents, who were chastising them. "We are not responsible for you kids! We told you not to do wrong!" Then they looked at me in scorn and scathed, "Get up out of there! Who raised you to be like that? You are ruining this country! There are NO excuses! The world is perfect!"
     And no one would even come close to me the rest of that day. I would yell at them but they would only move to the other side. I could hear them wonder why I was there or why I would like it so much, which made me really angry. So I screamed at them at the top of my lungs with all the fury I could muster! But I would only hear them conspire to each other, "He's obviously a lunatic! If he were any good, someone would have helped him."
     And they despised me, leaving me to mutter, "You made me this way."
     The sun sunk low in the sky and I was very near giving up hope when the shadow of a man came over me. "Are you hurt?" he asked.
     "What do you care?"
     "I care to help!"
     "Yeah, right!"
     "I mean it! Let me help you out!"
     But I was still leary and I said to him, "You mean you're not going to judge me or deny me or lie to me or use me or abuse me or con me or rebuke me or spit on me or blame me?"
     "I shall do none of those things. I'm going to help you back to town if you will let me."
     And then he helped me up and supported me as I looked upon him with grateful and wondering eyes. As he helped me down the road, I burst with gratitude, rejoicing, "Oh, thank you! You don't know how much this means to me! I thought I was hung out to dry! You are the nicest man in the world!"
     So he turned to me and slyly smiled, "And you better tell that to everyone in town, too, or I'll break your other leg!"
     Funny things happen when you get hurt!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADDENDUM: In California, a man was robbed and beaten and literally thrown into a ditch. Several people passed by him but none stopped to help. Later that day, he died. His mother is now trying to get a law enacted that makes it illegal to not render aid to the victim of a violent crime.

I wrote this story long before this incident, as I see this happening spriritually all the time. However, no one considers it to be "real" or a "story" until it happens physically. But the spiritual transgressions like this result in just as real deaths.