Modern-day Good Samaritan blesses woman at hospital

Tammy McKeighan/Spiritual Spinach

His name was Henry.

I met him in the cafeteria at Omaha’s Clarkson Hospital.

It was 1996 and my dad was on dialysis. He’d been so sick and gotten so thin and we’d made so many trips to Omaha that I was sad and tired and worn out.

Dad always wanted me to eat supper while he was having a treatment so I’d become well-acquainted with the hospital’s big-windowed cafeteria.

I’d also become used to eating by myself, often taking a book along to read. But that particular day, I noticed a small man at the next table. He was wiry and looked like he’d worked hard all of his life.

He also was very friendly and we started up a conversation. Before I knew it, I’d carried my tray to his table and we were chatting like old friends.

Henry said his wife had been sick and in the hospital. He also said he’d done some demolition work for a Fremont company that was expanding its business.

For a moment, I felt a touch of home. And somehow �” for that brief time �” I forgot about my heartache.

Now Henry was probably an ordinary guy. But sometimes even today I wonder if he was an angel.

At any rate, he was an angel to me.

Or maybe he was just a Good Samaritan with a lunch tray.

Most people know the familiar Bible story. A man is robbed, beaten and left for dead along a roadside.

A couple of church-operating folks -- a priest and a Levite -- pass by without helping.

Then a Samaritan -- one of a group of greatly disliked people -- stops to help the man, tending to his wounds and taking him to an inn. The Samaritan even pays for the guy to stay there and says he’ll pay any extra fees necessary when he passes through again.

Now you don’t have to be physically beaten to feel as if life has pummeled you to a pulp. That’s when we need a Good Samaritan to help “bandage” the wounds -- even if it’s with a kind word, a Scripture or a prayer.

But I can also identify all too well with the guys who passed by the hurting man.

They might have been frightened that robbers still lurked nearby.

Maybe they also bore the weight of numerous responsibilities. Did they worry about getting everything done? Were they already late and concerned people would be mad? Or were they just tired?

I know how I’ve struggled with trying to juggle time, responsibility and weariness while knowing people who could use a couple of hours of conversation.

And what does Proverbs 12:25 say? “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.”

Oh boy. Sounds like I’d better get busy. But before I head into guilt overload, let me say that we can all ask God to provide us pockets of time and help us manage it. We can trust him to give us increased energy and show us how to be Better Samaritans.

Then we can dump that guilt by the side of the road.

I’ve never seen Henry since that day in the cafeteria. I wonder if I’d even recognize him now.

Time can fog the memory.

But one thing I will remember: That for a brief time, a small, friendly man made life a little easier for me.

Tammy McKeighan is news editor of the Fremont Tribune. She can be reached at (402) 721-5000, Ext. 1433 or via e-mail at tammy.mckeighan@lee .net.