What It Means to Be a Good Samaritan

20 November 2011

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I'm Faith Lapidus. Someone who stops to help a stranger is known as a good Samaritan. This week on our program, we talk about good Samaritans and what laws and science say about them.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: The term "good Samaritan" comes from a story in the Christian bible. We asked a local minister here in Washington to tell us the story.

AARON GRAHAM: "I'm Aaron Graham, lead pastor of the District Church in Washington, DC."

He says in the Gospel of Luke, a legal expert asks Jesus what it means to love your neighbor.

More than 1,000 students at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, including freshmen Brian Oliver, left, and Andre Lumpkin, learned basic CPR at a mass training event in 2009

AARON GRAHAM: "Rather than Jesus giving him a lecture in who his neighbor is, he actually tells a story about a Jewish guy who's on his way up to Jericho from Jerusalem who gets beat up and robbed."

The injured man is lying by the side of the road. Two people walk by. They do not stop to help him. In fact, they walk on the other side of the road to avoid him. Finally, someone from Samaria -- a Samaritan -- comes along.

AARON GRAHAM: "The Samaritan cares for this Jewish guy, he bandages his wounds, he takes him to the inn, and then he even foots the bill for him."