Do you consider yourself to be a Good Samaritan?

Everyone wants to be considered a good person, and to be known as someone who assists others in their time of need. Although in many instances, more people are seen ignoring cases where their help might be useful then going out of their way to at least ask a person in distress if they are alright. This is what separates the true good samaritans from those who just think of themselves in that regard.

It is difficult sometimes to extend your hand to a stranger. I, too, have trouble being the stronger person in a crowd of on-lookers. But even if you are unsure if the person will accept your help, at the end of the day it will make you feel like a better person for at least offering it. In fact, your actions might even inspire others to do the same, or even make the person in distress learn to be more willing to accept the help of others.

There are good samaritans out there because we hear new stories of them everyday. One specific posting can be found at http://meddlingkidd.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/thanks-jerry/, which is about a man who helped a family having car problems. The family had been experiencing their temperature guage rising, but after putting some anti-freeze in it, the mini-van was fine until a few days later when it rose again. Luckily they were near a park, so they pulled the car over. They attempted to add water, but it just evaporated. Many cars drove by yet only one stopped. A man named Jerry got out, asked if they needed help and began to assist under the hood. They came to a conclusion that it was best to wait for the mini-van to cool down, so Jerry left apologizing that he couldn't do more. Yet about ten minutes later Jerry's truck pulled up again, and he got out with a bottle of anti-freeze. He refused to take cash from the family and just told them that it was his good deed of the day.

Another example of a good samaritan was a story of a biker accident found at http://blog.glennf.com/mtarchives/007913.html. A man had been riding his bike along Lake Washington Blvd. on Bicycle Sunday when a car came out of nowhere forcing him to change gears, which jammed his chain. He wasn't hit but he got off of the bike and turned it over to fix the chain when a group of four other bikers asked if he needed help. He graciously accepted their help and together they unjammed it in about five minutes. Then on his way home, the biker witnessed the results of another bike accident, this one much worse. A woman was laying on the ground bleeding from the head. Her friends were trying to help, and another passer by called 911. It took a few minutes to convince the woman that she needed medicle help, but once she agreed they had an ambulance sent over. An EMT on bike stopped and began to help as well, and the biker began directing traffic around the scene. About ten minutes later the ambulance arrived and she was taken to the hospital. Her injuries were very bad, but if she was not wearing a helmet she could have been dead or in fatal trama.