Parable #1

My literature teacher reads one of Soren Kierkegaard parables every week. I'm going to try my hand at the form (and my favorite Danish philosopher’s writing style!):



How ought we to attend to the spiritual health of others?

Consider entering a hospital with the intention of visiting your ailing spouse. As you move on your way you pass by several rooms occupied by strangers. Cries of pain and discomfort echo all around the hospital walls. Do you not also feel a discomfort knowing that your fellow man, stranger as they are, suffer under such a load. Now consider you pass the room of a distant friend, whom you have not seen for years. Would you not stop and comfort your old friend for just a moment in hopes of lessening his suffering and introducing joy into his disposition? After some ways you enter the room of your spouse. You would no doubt spend all day in that hospital room comforting your loved one. Now, consider that you were a doctor. Would you not go to great lengths attempting to cure your spouse, or any sick person you were to encounter? And would you not be negligent and cold hearted to withhold any energy attempting to restore peace and health to those in need? Now how can any man rightly withhold his comforting or curative powers when considering a health that is vastly more important and eternal than the forgetful and momentary nature of man's life on earth?