***Commerce and Charity
Six months ago I took a position with a company called Samaritan Technologies. The company was founded a decade ago by two men, my current supervisor Todd and my brother-in-law Joseph, then only in his mid-teens. Todd had graduated from BYU in non-profit administration and moved to St. George, a small town in southern Utah, to start up a United Way chapter. He met Joseph at church, as they were members of the same congretation. One day as they were driving around, Todd lamented that he was having a hard time managing all of his volunteers: too much paperwork to sort through trying to decide which volunteers were best suited for which opportunities, details falling through cracks, etc., and why can't there be some software program that could do it all for him? Well, Joseph was a programmer and offered his service to solve his friend's problem. Soon they were storing all of their volunteers and opportunites electronically, and the matching was accomplished with relative ease.
A short while later other non-profits came to Todd and Joseph, wanting the same kind of solution and curious as to the solution they had come up with. They decided then to market and sell this tool. In deciding what to name the company, Todd posed the question to Joseph, "what exactly do you call software that matches volunteers to the needs of the community around them?" ...
This story was told to me during my first orientation, with both Joseph and Todd present, along with another story, the story of the Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Anderson. Our vision and goal as a company is to relieve suffering, like that of this little girl, by providing a matching solution. Volunteerism and altruism is not America-exclusive, but it certainly is a huge part of our lives. Most other countries hardly have the notion, and there really is no other nation in the world that can compete with the United States as far as honest volunteers willing to reach out. We are surrounded by and we live with, in fact we are ourselves, volunteers with a desire to relieve that suffering, help our neighbors and make the world better; rather Zionistic, don't you think? Haven't many of us covenanted to consecrate our time, money and talents to the building of up the Kingdom of God on Earth? So, how is that done?
Yes, how exactly is that done? We are taught to help, and many of us want to, but how? Where do we start? How do we know who needs help? ...and so our willingness and desire (gifts from God, really) are ammunition without a target simply because we don't know where to find, or perhaps aren't strong enough to seek, these opportunities.
***Christ and Charity
Let's quickly go over the story of the Good Samaritan, found in the New Testament, Luke 10. So we know that the Samaritans were not only seen as inferior, but loathed by the Jews. Wanting to worship Jehovah, they built a temple to rival that of the Jews, which only made them more hated. Bottom-line, they were enemies, Jew and Samaritan. With that in mind, the parable tells of a Jewish man on the road to Jericho. On his journey, he is overtaken by thieves, robbed, beaten, stripped and left "half dead." Unconscious or close to it, he lay by the wayside bleeding, broken and naked, probably praying for help if he could even muster that much effort.
Then passed by a priest of his own religion. A priest who taught the Law of Moses, who professed charity and the Gospel. The perfect solution to this man's plight! Up he came to the pathetic sight, beheld the man, and not only did he walk on by but he crossed to the other side of the road.
Next came a Levite, a fellow Jew. Levites were also priests, or they were their assistants. Up he came on the fellow and likewise passed by, also crossing to the other side.
The man's condition would be much worse by now, as wounds untreated tend to become. Two men, claiming to be consecrated or cleansed in order to serve their God, and of the same faith, the same lineage, the same family as this man, would not stop. And so comes the so-called enemy of this man, so comes the man from Samaria. Ew! A Samaritan! They are dirty, they have no real faith with so many 'religions' mixed into one, their churches and temples do not operate under true authority. Heaven forbid I ever have to meet one! So comes the man from Samaria, along the path. It is doubtful that we was just out for a stroll; Samaria is quite the way away from Jeruslam and Jericho. No, the man was likely doing business of one sort or the other, and he was certainly not travelling about in search of dying men to aid.
Here, let me quote Jesus Christ:
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, whn I come again, I will repay thee.
In all Biblical parables, even in mythological tales, stories of heroes, there is always a protagonist figure, the man who does what he should. In the Bible we read of good sons, good fathers, masters of households or vineyards, etc. We should know that in all of these cases, this true and just character represents the Savior himself. And so to teach us not only about charity but also about how ridiculous cross-religion bigotry is, the Lord presented himself as a Samaritan. The Good Samaritan.
The Best Samaritan.
***Ourselves and Charity
We are all on the road to Jericho. Jericho is Heaven, and our goal. By our own human nature, we fall among 'thieves', or rather sin and transgression. Sin leaves us bleeding and helpless on the side of the road. Let us not be haughty and proud and pass by others who need help, spiritual or physical or whatever. Let us not be priests, let us not act as the Levite, whose wounds are not as bleedingly apparent, and ignore our brothers and sisters. His wound is known to us as he passes by with no compassion. So we are in such a helpless state, dying in our hopes to reach Jericho, when along comes Jesus Christ who binds up and pours wine and oil into our wounds, who sets us on his beast and takes us to a safe place, who pays the price of our comfort and healing...and who will come again.
The Samaritan, even Jesus Christ, in a very literal sense, was a volunteer. Mormon doctrine teaches us of our pre-mortal existence. Heavenly Father posed the question to all of His children: Whom shall I send? And our Savior volunteered, replying "Behold, here am I, send me. Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."
So what must we do? How must we be? "Be ye therefore perfect even as I, or your Father who is in Heaven is perfect." And how can we be like Christ? Take a gander at Matthew 25:40. And what we cannot do is made up for by the Best Samaritan's aid, his Atonement. But he asks that we try, doing all that we can, in helping one another, by volunteering.
Todd: What exactly do you call software that matches volunteers to the needs of the community around them?
Joseph: You call it Samaritan software.
No comments:
Post a Comment