Tread lightly on the things of earth

Paul Krugman, writing today as seen here, makes a striking observation the American half of which I hear almost every day where I live in the southern U.S.:

A middle-class European, thinking about the poor, says to himself, “There but for the grace of God go I.” A middle-class American is all too likely to think, perhaps without admitting it to himself, “Why should I be taxed to support those people?”

“Which of these [two],” Jesus is likely to say, “do you think was a neighbor to the [poor persons] who fell into the hands of [society’s] robbers?”

The true Christian response is clear, as the next verse reveals:

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Any response other than active mercy is “wanting to justify [one]self,” just like the expert in the law at the start of the story. It’s missing the mark.

We’re all neighbors on this pale blue dot. Let’s start acting like it.