You Are My Guests

by Joe Brubaker

 

I was asked to ghost-write for this blog about two weeks ago, and as inspired as I was, I could not write something that made sense, or that could accurately convey my thoughts.  Yet as I continue to play this scene in my mind, I am convinced that I must share an analysis of it.

 

Watch this clip; in it you will see how we as Americans should be ashamed of how we do not help others in need.  If you have never seen The Amazing Race, understand that it is a game show type program that pits teams to two against each other in a “race around the world.”  During the race the last teams to arrive at checkpoints are eliminated and teams must complete tasks that require money to get there (i.e. plane tickets, taxi rides, purchasing food etc.). They are all given money per each leg to spend as best they can.

Prior to this scene (you can watch the episode to discover this), two teams conspire to steal money to give these two men a disadvantage.  While I am not justifying their strategy, it was brilliantly contrived to “get ahead” and would have probably knocked these men out of the race, if the people on the streets of Bangladesh would not have helped them.  Notice how they help, they are not coerced, they are not reluctant, they just ask if the men need help. Not only that but one man said this (which has stuck with me since the episode aired), as they were thanking him:  “No, problem, No problem…This is my country and you are my guests.”  This action should not surprise us, but somehow it does.  Maybe this will change our opinions of those who are not like us.  As the taxi driver put it, “Bangladesh, good not bad.”

What if we acted like this man from Bangladesh and treated strangers, as our guests?  What if we were motivated by seeing a need and just doing something about it because we see the need?  Guests are those to whom we extend hospitality, kindness, and often part of our wealth.  However, we as Americans usually extend hospitality only to those who can be generous to us in return; not to those who cannot.  We must change this idealism and defenestrate it.  Let us instead be as the gentleman from Bangladesh and make the world a better place by paying it forward.  My suggestion would be to read the suggestions listed on this blog, pick someone, and do whatever deed(s) from the list that will make them feel like an honored guest.  Perhaps their reaction will be like that of the racers:  pure, simple gratitude.