The Good S......

A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by bandits. He was stripped, robbed, beaten and left for dead. (You have heard this story before, but read on).

A socialist happened to go down the same road and saw the man lying in great distress. Stooping to check the injured man, he said, “The government should do something about this!!” Then he hurried off to a political meeting.

Another socialist soon came by. As he passed on the other side of the road, he called out, “The government should do something about this!!”

By the time a government official came past the injured man had died. “The Government can solve this problem!!”, he shouted to anyone who was listening. He then put a toll gate on the road and did not let any travellers pass, until they had handed over a gold coin.

The government official used the money he collected to build a comfortable kiosk for shelter. He sometimes chased the bandits, but not very seriously, because he knew that if they disappeared, he would be out of a job. Some of the money was used to provide health care to those who were injured. That was nice.

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Travellers soon became dubious about handing over their gold coins to the government official, so they found a different road to Jericho. It took a little longer, but was much cheaper.

The government official still got enough revenue to pay his salary and keep his kiosk warm, but he did not have enough to care for all the people who go robbed or injured. Being a creative man he introduced a points system for dealing with casulties. He would assess their injuries, and give them a score between 1 and 10. Those with more than five points were received help. The rest were left to their own devices.

The points scheme worked for a while, but as more and more people avoided the road, the government official received less and less tolls. He still collected his salary, but he could not care for the injured people. The only alternative was to raise the number of points required for assistance to 10. The problem was that that the only casulties to get 10 points were dead!

The government provided a solution to the problem, but it became a burial service for those who were dead.

Who was a neighbour to the man who was injured?

A Good Samaritan would have bandaged the injured man. He would have given him a ride out of the area and paid for his health care with his own money. The Good Samaritan was not a good socialist.