Samaritan

I think I felt sad today. It was a grey day, rain falling carelessly and ceaselessly with no particular pattern except that of general chaotic precipitation. But I was happy with the rain - if you summon thunderbirds to your canyon, expect flash floods, as the old medicine man said.

The sadness came from thinking about a compatriot of mine, an elder statesman who has served longer in politics than anyone still active in the country (except one other). This statesman has been for many years one of the few voices of political opposition here.

He was a school swimmer, a leader, an active and involved participant in the affairs of his school. He went to New Zealand for his first degree, and then began a life of dedicated public service. He started off in the school system. After twelve years of teaching science, the former civil servant turned to law and politics. Mild in demeanour, scholarly in appearance, he nevertheless turned out to have a depth of character that saw him lose an election once, and then never again.

Now, he has served six terms in the nation's parliament so far, defeating fresh, seasoned or freshly seasoned candidates of the party in power. That party has enjoyed, and continues to enjoy, a supermajority unthinkable of in a typical democracy. But this man has survived and, now in his sixties, he is as much a gentleman as ever. None of this was mentioned in the brief introduction he was given as he spoke to us today.

Today he spoke of three lessons from the parable of the Good Samaritan. He said that the first lesson was that one should render service all the time because that was our duty. The second lesson was that one should always be compassionate to others. And the third was that even if you had to expend your own resources in service, with no hope of reward, you should do so. Seldom have speakers from the pulpit been this succinct. There were no frills or clever rhetorical tricks in this very short speech, the shortest in living memory at our St David's Day services. On this cold day, my heart felt strangely and mightily warmed.

My friends in these times, who stand on distant heights, I leave you with one last image. Think of this: a short distance from the Chapel of the Living Waters, a plaque is displayed, listing the names of the many political leaders whose intellectual roots are buried here - but the name of this gentleman is not on it. For the good Samaritan was not a Jew.