Reggie's Reflections
KINDNESS
When 11-year-old Elizabeth Lee reached into a lion cage in an Anchorage amusement park, a 300 pound lioness named Cleo seized her arm in its teeth. Alaska State Trooper Frank Johnson raced to the rescue, pulled out his pistol and shot the lion in the head. As the lion fell dead, both Johnson and the girl went sprawling; Johnson’s gun accidentally went off again, and the girl was wounded in the thigh.
Elizabeth eventually recovered, but she filed a $65,00 damage suit against the trooper, the amusement park and the state of Alaska. The jury decided that the amusement park should pay her $15,000 in damages because the cage was inadequately guarded. It rejected the rest of Elizabeth’s claim.
Johnson’s exoneration was based on Alaska’s “Good Samaritan” statute. Like similar statutes in more than 40 other states, it holds that one who voluntarily aids a person in distress is not liable for damages unless gross negligence is involved. The English common law traditionally rejected compulsion to save. Instead, it made the rescuer responsible for mishaps caused by his negligence. Thus in 1966, a Georgia court ruled that the owner of a private swimming pool had no duty to rescue a drowning child. On the other hand, a Wyoming traveler who tried to herd some cattle off the road to avoid an accident was held liable for damages when the animals ran around a bend and collided with an oncoming car.
How terrible, the human race cannot practice kindness toward one another without having to suffer. Paul calls one of the fruits of the Spirit “kindness” in Galatians 5:22. However, some are afraid to show this kindness for fear of repercussion. What is really bad, is for a Christian to show kindness to another only to be “driven back” and discouraged by the person he is trying to help.
Show kindness to others – accept kindness gracefully.
Reggie Nalls
