When I was a young man I met a prostitute. No, not in that sense.
It was in the late Eighties and I had just started working in London’s glittering West End for an ad agency. Everything was new and I was still trying to get to grips with my pocket-sized London A-Z.
Thinking I would take a short cut through some back streets to get to the tube quicker I found myself going down this dimly-lit grubby street. It had been raining and so I had one of those black city-type long rolled up umbrellas. Well, I was trying to make an impression.
Walking fast I caught sight of a heavily made up girl leaning on a door way smoking a cigarette, half-bathed in red light. She was wearing, well not very much to be honest, but what she was wearing was in leopard skin print. But what really struck me were her long black suede boots. They seemed to go half way up her body. I remember thinking what an absolute picture she looked and began considering the kind of person she must be.
Well, I lost my concentration and managed somehow get my “man about town” umbrella caught in one of my shoelaces. I began to run uncontrollably towards this lady trying to stop myself from tumbling over – but, alas, too late. I ended up slumped awkwardly face down in a puddle by her thigh length black suede boots.
I felt this hand reach down and grab mine and pull me up to my feet. My briefcase and its contents were scattered unceremoniously across the street. Not good.
“Are you alright? Can I do anything? Do you need any help? I looked up with utter embarrassment and saw something unexpected - kindness. Not for the first time that evening I had been caught unaware and wrong-footed.
I have learnt over the years, thanks to this chance encounter with a sex worker, that kindness is what makes us human. There is much in society that tries to demean its virtue and label it as the act of church-goers, do-gooders or weak people.
The Roman philosopher and emperor Marcus Aurelius declared that “kindness was mankind’s greatest delight”, but humanist thinkers such as Voltaire saw it as a weakness and argued that there was nothing in it for the individual. He vehemently disagreed with the Christian virtue of “love your neighbour as yourself.”
Nowadays this Enlightenment thinking has gone deep into our society to make us naturally suspicious of any kindly behaviour. It is often dismissed by clever people as being sentimental or moralistic.
Some say that we are only kind to each other to get something out of it for ourselves. Maybe, but for the Christian our motivations are different. We live not for ourselves but for the pleasure of God. Again, not a popular concept in a secular individualist society. Yet in that place, personal fulfillment and life purpose has a chance to go deeper than if we just live for our own ends.
Admittedly there is vulnerability in doing acts of kindness, but it is a risk we take. We learn to take on board “the greatest commandment” given by Jesus: “love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.” And along with that, “love your neighbour as yourself.”
Now it may seem a foolish thing to believe in today’s culture but, hey, seeing today’s society as it is, I think I’ll take my chances and be a kind fool for Christ and see where it takes me.
ASD
