For Goodness Sake

       As we have opportunity, let us do good to all.
                             - Galatians 6:10 
 
I am a woman on a mission.  I am looking for a few good men.  Well, not just men.  I am looking for good people of any sort.
 
Two stories have taken up residence in my head launching me on this mission.  The first story is about Edmund Burke, a respected member of the British Parliament in the 18th century. The words, all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, have frequently been attributed to Burke. While those exact words have not survived fact checking, in Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770), Burke is recorded as saying: When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.

The second story on my mind is the Bible’s tale of the destruction of Sodom. The Lord tells Abraham that the city will be destroyed due to wickedness.  Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lives there with his family.  Abraham beseeches the Lord to consider saving the city if fifty righteous men can be found. The Lord agrees, but Abraham continues to negotiate.  They settle on a final number, and the Lord says, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”  

We all know how the story ends:  the city burns, everything is destroyed. Lot escapes, but his wife disobeys God’s instructions.  She looks back as she flees and turns into a pillar of salt.

It has been impossible to escape the daily news in 2021.  Dare I look back?  The year began with a pandemic threatening our health, weather events threatening our planet, and angry politicians threatening our democracy. People have remained uneasy and some have given voice to a fear that we are approaching the end of times.

I am not a prepper.  I have no fortified bunker. I do not stockpile nonperishable foods or practice survival skills, but I do want to be ready.  If the Lord offers me a deal, I want to have list so that I can name names. In a country of 334 million people, I pray I can find fifty good ones.

So far, I’ve got Ed, the homeless gentleman I wrote about on November 16th.  A week later, I encountered a nameless and faceless truck driver, but I jotted down his license plate number.  God will know the driver by his deeds.  I encountered the truck driver as I headed out of Columbus via Interstate 71 North.  The urban traffic was heavy and aggressive, moving much faster than the legal limit. My entire body was brittle with tension as I held my breath and I merged from the city ramp onto the highway.  Traffic continued to whiz past me even though I was going the maximum posted speed.  Feeling anxious and looking forward to getting beyond the city limits, I tucked myself in behind a Wooster Motor Ways truck.  Remarkably, the driver maintained the speed limit and slowed for vehicles merging into the heavy traffic.  I felt a rush of relief in finding this personal escort, a guardian angel.  I followed the semi out of town and through the countryside.  We traveled a good sixty miles together before parting ways at the Route 30 exit.  While it is a small thing to obey the traffic laws and show consideration to other drivers, it is not without significance.  Maybe God will see it as a test of character, a measure of goodness.

Then on November 29th, I met Ahmal.  After several days of cold, rain, sleet, and snow flurries, the sun came up.  By mid-afternoon the thermostat registered a sunny 42 degrees, and I headed outside for a walk.  A half a block from home, I saw two obstacles blocking the narrow path ahead.  One item appeared to be a bulging gym bag about three feet wide.  Bright orange extension cords poked out from the top.  Next to the bag was a Shop-Vac.  As I came closer, I saw a man standing on the curb studying his smartphone.  “Do you know where West Fifth Avenue is,” he asked. 

“It’s about a half a block straight ahead.”  The man looked so relieved, I thought he might cry.

“That’s good.  That’s good,” he said as he picked up his things.

“I’m headed that way.  I’ll walk with you.” The man refused to let me carry a thing even as sweat poured from his scalp and dripped onto his shoulders.

A few steps in, the man sat the items down in an attempt to re-adjust his load.  At that point, I insisted, “hand me the Shop-Vac.”  As we made our way to the bus stop, the man told me his story.  He had gotten a ride to a local business to detail a food truck.  The splattered grease stain that covered his white tea shirt corroborated the story.  He told me that he had loaned his rent money to a family member with the promise that the money would be repaid by the time the rent came due. The borrower had not repaid the loan.  With just two days remaining, this desperate but determined man was taking every odd job he could find to meet the first-of-the-month deadline. He told me how he had lost his regular job doing yardwork and landscaping when the weather turned cold.  Perhaps there was more to the story, but I would not look for fault in a man willing to work this hard to pay his rent on time after sacrificing for a loved one.  Slowing down, the man squinted and looked ahead, “I don’t see it.  I don’t see no bus stop!”

Feeling his exhaustion, I encouraged him to keep going. “The sign is hidden by the trees.  We’re almost there.” 

We took a few more steps.  “I see it!  I see it now!  I got about a two hours bus ride to get home and change so I can get to my next job.”

As I set the Shop-Vac down on the sidewalk next to the bus stop sign, the man asked me my name.  “Lilli,” I said.”

“I’m Ahmal,” and he threw his arms open wide, embracing me with the gratitude of a man whose life had been saved.

I felt entirely unworthy and said a prayer of thanksgiving for the sun and the mild temperature that propelled me onto the bike path and into his arms, for the strength to share the mental load and to carry his Shop-Vac to the bus stop.  And because I was fortunate, my rent was paid.

In this time when everything is askew and the headlines warn of more doom and gloom to come--the end of democracy, the end of decency, the end of the earth, I am buckling down on my mission to find fifty good people. I add Ahmal to the list.

The holiday season is a good time to embark on this exercise. In the Christian tradition, Christmas marks the birth of a savior.  It is a story of hope, a season of second chances. For Christians, that is not fake news, it is the Good News.  But good does not triumph easily. Because it comes into the world quietly and with humility, it risks being overlooked and demeaned. Sometimes there is no room for it at the inn.  But a light shines upon goodness for those who seek it.  Wise men travel far to find it.

In the secular tradition, Christmas is about a jolly old man who sees us when we’re sleeping.  He knows when we’re awake.  He keeps track of our deeds with his own list of who is naughty and who is nice. He checks his list not once but twice.  The nice are rewarded on Christmas morning.

I had the good fortune of being born in the post-war era, a time of growth, abundance, and opportunity.  I never questioned that I lived anywhere but in the greatest country on earth.  Despite our history and our difficulties, I always believed that we would keep growing, and that, in the end, good would triumph in this homeland.  The past few years have challenged my beliefs and sense of national identity.  COVID has rattled the nerves of everyone on the planet and arrived at a time when democracy was already under grave threat all around the world.  News of the day can make it hard to keep believing.

But it is Christmas.  Whether you celebrate in the Christian tradition or the secular, Christmas is an important reminder of hope, a message that God, or the Something Greater, does not give up on us.  Goodness matters and good can be found in surprising places.  Mankind is an imperfect lot, but also an unfinished one.  There is still time. 

May goodness find you this Christmas.  Prepare to name names.
 
 
 

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