There is a story about a small community that was nestled at the base of a mountain. Down this mountain came a precipitous road that carried traffic from across the mountain and onto the plain. In the old days, an occasional horse and rider would slide off this road and fall into the town. The townspeople were caring and compassionate people and would gather up the injured and nurse them in their homes until they could continue on their way. As horses and wagon gave way to motorcars, there were more accidents and the village people built a hospital and organized a rescue squad to more effectively assist the injured.

Over the years, this hospital became well known for its emergency room and the village became famous for its compassionate care. As more and more trucks carrying the goods of life and more and more cars carrying tourists and other travelers on this road resulted in even more accidents, the hospital expanded into a world-renowned trauma center. The town was universally called “The Good Samaritan Village:’

But one day, someone installed Guardrails on the edge of the highway, wending its way down the mountainside. And now there were fewer accidents and fewer injured people for the hospital and the village to care for. The villagers became quite upset that the reason for their fame was taken away and they were angry with the builders of guardrails. Today, I would encourage us to be builders of guardrails as well as tenders of the injured.

Many churches reach out in meaningful and compassionate ways through sponsorship of
community food banks, homeless shelters, or other forms of emergency assistance. Persons with mental illnesses are among the first to suffer from welfare reform, state Medicaid cutbacks, increased unemployment, and the redirection of governmental resources to homeland security. Consequently, homelessness, hunger, and increased illness become a fact of daily life for many.

These become the persons whom we see in our churches asking for food, shelter, and clothing. We should continue to do these things and to do them in the most compassionate and effective ways possible. But we should also install guardrails.

One way that we could do this is to purchase prescription medicines for the treatment of the mentally ill. It is a devil’s dilemma to choose between bread and medicine. Perhaps not having to choose between medicine and rent might mean fewer homeless persons with mental illness. Perhaps not having to choose between the baby’s needs and the parent’s medicine might mean fewer babies who are sick because the parent can no longer organize the thoughts necessary to dress the baby or prepare the formula. Perhaps having the medicine that quiets the command voices telling a person to commit suicide would result in fewer teen suicides.

Perhaps “Good Samaritan Villages” could earmark some of their charity-giving for the purchase of medicines. Perhaps several churches could contract with a local pharmacy to secure product samples or generic equivalents or to provide these medicines at a reduced mark up. Perhaps a community outreach program could arrange for local doctors to refer persons to them before they run out of medicine rather than after they become desperately ill again.

Along with that, we can increase our lobbying efforts to make sure that legislatures and bureaucracies do not balance their budgets on the backs of the sick. We can and must build guardrails but we must also advocate that those who are responsible for safety on the highways of life build guardrails.