Saturday, September 15, 2012

Don’t Ignore Hurting People

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. -- Philippians 2:4

Many years ago a co-worker failed to show up to relieve me at work. I was worried. She could be flaky about some things but not about work. I called another friend to go to her home and check on her.

What she found scared us all. Our co-worker had taken too many pills and was having trouble staying awake. Unfortunately, she never went to a hospital. Fortunately, she survived.

I wish it had been something easily passed off as an accident. But given her fragile mental state, I couldn’t believe it was. She’d been raised in a religious cult and was sexually violated repeatedly. As an adult, she walked away -- and was ostracized by her family. She liked to pretend it didn’t matter but, of course, it did. And she’d spent years in therapy and on various anti-depressants trying to deal with it.

The day after I did what I felt I needed to do. I called her therapist and told him I believed she’d tried to commit suicide. He immediately took action. He couldn’t hospitalize her -- that was the unfortunate part of not going to the emergency room -- but he did get her in to his office repeatedly over the next days and weeks.

She never forgave me. In a way, I understood. She felt I’d meddled where I didn’t belong. Maybe I did. But she was alive to tell that story. I’m not sure she would have been had I not sent someone to her home and then called her doctor. I’ve never regretted the decision.

Sometimes taking action to help someone means risking that they’ll never forgive you. Sometimes doing the right thing means stepping on toes and making people angry. Do it anyway.

Please understand that I’m not telling you to ignore lines of respect and choice. Sometimes that line isn’t easy to see. But prayer works every time. Take courage and follow the Spirit where He leads you.

More than 36,000 people in the United States commit suicide each year. I wonder how many of those wounded people talked about dying. I wonder how many of them spoke of feeling helpless or alone. I wonder what might have happened had someone actually heard their words and responded with kindness and compassion.

Sometimes we have to get in other people’s business when it means saving their lives. Don’t hesitate. You may not ever get a second chance.