The Road- Reflection.

"I wasn't going to kill him" he said..."But we did kill him."

Those lines sent shivers up my spine. I sat in my bed reading and thought to myself, what does it honestly mean to kill someone? Are there different types of murder? Could this not just be a physical killing, but an emotional or mental one as well?

When the father and son found their thief, the father immediately threatened to kill this man. Not only did he threaten to blow his brains out, he forced him to take off his clothing and give it to them. These actions made the son very upset and angry. He wouldn't talk to his dad for a while. In the fathers mind he hadn't done anything wrong; he didn't actually kill the man. But the son viewed it differently. Was leaving the man naked, cold, and hungry any better than shooting him? No. In the sons mind they already killed him by refusing to help.

I sat there thinking of this situation. My thoughts began thinking of how far does wanting to survive go. Then they transitioned to the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And then that transformed into me contemplating my own murder. No, I haven't actually killed a man. But have I?

Does being uncompassionate to those around me make me on this same level? If I drive by a homeless man while eating McDonald's, am I any better than the father who threatened death? I don't believe its so much the action as it is the thought behind those actions. To not help someone is a choice. We make that choice by putting ourselves first and not being compassionate like we are called to be.

I don't want to be that persons who threatens death upon somebody else for my own comforts. I want to be like the son, weeping and angered when others aren't being helped. The golden rule really says it all. We as Christians, even as students, need to adopt the mindset of compassion and doing to others what we would want done to us. Compassion is contagious. I think maybe if we all took on the challenge, we just might start a revolution.