The Good Stranger

The Good Stranger
by Ester Barnes,

As a woman was traveling the road between romance and reality, she fell in love with the charming but insecure young man.

And it came to pass that after they were married, he beat her and robbed her of her dignity, and she ran from the house bruised and afraid, wishing she were dead.

A faith leader saw her swollen face and stopped to give some advice, “Wives, submit to your husbands,” he read. And he excused himself to attend a seminar on Motivating Strong Leaders.

A doctor stopped and bandaged her face and gave her a prescription for Valium.

A women’s group leader hearing her sobs felt a rush of pity. “I don’t know what she sees in him,” she thought and was thankful for her own gently husband. And she went to buy the young woman a book on Making Your Marriage Work.

A police officer asked her if she needed help. She asked him to arrest her husband. The officer asked if there were any witnesses to the assault. Since there were none, he left her alone.

Another women’s group president learned she was wandering the streets also without a purse, her clothing torn, and said to the treasurer, “How awful! Poor dear!” And they agreed something should be done, and that they would bring it up at their next meeting.

A social worker noticed her and stopped to talk, “What did you do to provoke him? She asked. The battered woman turned and walked away. The social worker concluded she did not want help.

And while the battered woman was wondering where she would sleep that night, a stranger greeted her and said, “Sister, come with me. We’ll get some food at the crisis center and maybe some clothes.” She took her threadbare coat and placed it on the woman’s shoulders.

And when they found the Crisis Center had no empty beds, the stranger took the woman to her attic room, and cooked a macaroni dinner and canned peas on a hot plate. She made a pot of tea and listened to the incoherent burst of pent-up pain. She wept to hear the broken dreams, self-doubt and shattered faith. And as the woman dropped to sleep upon the couch, the stranger breathed, “You’re a survivor, like me” and made herself to lie upon the floor.

Which of these people was a neighbor to the woman who fell into the hands of the abuser? The one who had compassion on her.

Go and do likewise. Go and do likewise.

Domestic Violence Month is not over...many will be abused this month also.