What caught my attention after all the 'excitement' faded was the crowd of people who gathered to watch the fight. In about 45 seconds probably 100 people were standing at shop doors, on the sidewalk and on the street watching. Not a single one moved to break up the fight. Only the police did that.
This reminded me of one of the aspects of this culture that often bothers me. People don't get involved in the needs of strangers. If there's a car accident, a huge crowd will gather to watch, but not one will call for help let alone roll up their sleeves to lend a hand. A few months back, a few friends of mine who couldn't swim got caught in some deep water. As their friends called for help, onlookers simply refused to lend a hand to pull them out of the water.
A while back, a friend told me a story about a man out here who tried to save another man who'd fallen overboard into a river. When he called for help, onlookers did nothing. After the drowning man died, he asked them why they didn't help save the guy. Their reply? "It wasn't convenient."
I think we Westerners underestimate the impact Christianity and Judaism have had on our culture. For a few thousand years, we've been trained by the Bible's radical philosophies to love our neighbors. Christians in particular follow the model of the ultimate self-sacrificer, Jesus. In our culture, one of the greatest virtues is sacrificial love. If we are not so brave and loving as to give our lives for others, we are at least willing and quick to lend a hand when we see someone in need.
It's not my intention to raise up Western Society as somehow more civilized or advanced. My point is that without the example of God's love, and his desire to see us love each other, self-serving is more the norm than self-sacrifice.
Cultures that have never encountered the teachings of the Bible are unaquainted with this radical love. They worship and serve idols that can do them no good, gods that need to be appeased and manipulated. But the Bible teaches of a God who so loved the world that He gave his only Son to die, and his Son willingly died, for sinful, undeserving men and women. And that's the kind of love He wants to see in His children.
Please pray with me that people of these cultures would see this selfless love in God's people, and be moved to worship Him and receive the Free Gift of His sacrificial love. Pray that witnessing that kind of love would register deep within them so they would say, "I knew all along there had to be more/better... and now God has revealed it."
