Hospitality, by Lewis

Hospitality is one of the great lessons of the life of Jesus. But human beings have been exhibiting its essential nature for as long, I suspect, as they have walked this planet. It is told in the lesson of the Good Samaritan who stopped to minister to a man, likely a Jew, who had been beaten and robbed on the road to Jericho. It was the impetus for the Hippocratic and Boy Scout Oaths. It is the inevitable consequence of the Golden Rule--to treat others as you would like them to treat you--and, according to Wikipedia, is found in some form in almost every religion and ethical tradition.

In today's troubled world, hospitality seems to be in short supply, for example, among the Israelis and Palestinians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, the Muslim Brotherhood and secular Egyptians, Tea Partiers and moderate Republicans, Tea Partiers and Democrats, Cheese Heads and Vikings, those who cling to guns and those who cling to their loved-ones to protect them from guns, those who like sushi and those who like cheeseburgers, those who believe a landlord should be able to evict a destitute tenant into hostile streets but a woman should be forced to carry an unwanted child to term and those who believe that a rapist's semen or a failed condom is not a down payment on a nine-month lease on a woman's body.

Yes, the world needs all the hospitality it can get right now. That' s one thing I like about the Sharing Our Stories group--we treat each other like we would rather be here than anywhere else at this time and we show it in ways that are kind and liberally-minded. This is the kind of safe atmosphere that encourages creativity in us all. And what is hospitality if not the nurturing of the human spirit in all its variety?

[Footnote: Initially, I could think of very little to write about the subject of "hospitality". I was about to write just a brief sentence or two about that subject and then launch into an essay on "Hospital Fatalities", about which I am much more passionate. But I thought that might be type-casting me a bit so I deferred.]

© 29 July 2013

About the Author

I came to the beautiful state of Colorado out of my native Kansas by way of Michigan, the state where I married and I came to the beautiful state of Colorado out of my native Kansas by way of Michigan, the state where I married and had two children while working as an engineer for the Ford Motor Company. I was married to a wonderful woman for 26 happy years and suddenly realized that life was passing me by. I figured that I should make a change, as our offspring were basically on their own and I wasn't getting any younger. Luckily, a very attractive and personable man just happened to be crossing my path at that time, so the change-over was both fortuitous and smooth. Soon after, I retired and we moved to Denver, my husband's home town. He passed away after 13 blissful years together in October of 2012. I am left to find a new path to fulfillment. One possibility is through writing. Thank goodness, the SAGE Creative Writing Group was there to light the way.