Sickos and Samaritans

I saw Michael Moore's Sicko last night, and it's very thought-provoking. Propaganda? Skewed? Absolutely! But if people miss seeing it (or dismiss the overall message) because the movie is not unbiased, I think they're really missing out. I was just telling one of my friends about Sicko and then encouraged her to see it. "Why?" she asked. "You just told me the whole movie." Well, it's not like there's a plot so I don't see comments as "spoilers," but just in case you feel the same, I won't say too much about specifics in this post (so you have time to go see the movie).

However, I will say that the treatment of the Americans in the Cuban hospital reminded me of the parable of the good Samaritan (from Luke 10, The Message version of the Bible, emphasis mine): [Remember, Jews were prejudiced against Samaritans during this period.]

25Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?"

26He answered, "What's written in God's Law? How do you interpret it?"

27He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself."

28"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."

29Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define 'neighbor'?"

30-32Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

33-35"A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.'

36"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?"

37"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

Insurance companies (and sadly, sometimes Americans in general) are always looking for a loophole to get out of treating a patient. [That's inherent in for-profit health care. The theory of free market doesn't really apply because, in reality, we don't have a choice which HMO or PPO we have...and even if we did, it's a choice between one evil and another.] In looking for loopholes and exceptions, we stop seeing people. When the Samaritan came upon the injured man, he didn't say, "Oh, this is a Jew, and Jews don't like me. He's not my responsibility. His own people should help him." He just saw a person in need...so he helped the man. Jesus said the Samaritan "became a neighbor," implying that our neighbor has nothing to do with geographical location and everything to do with need.

And if we can't convince the US government, at least Moore's directed us to this site: http://www.hook-a-canuk.com/.